The Shoebox
by EightEminus
Summary: Gene is forced to endanger the lives of his colleagues, Alex receives threatening letters that make her question her future in the Met, Ray is arrested, and Chris and Shaz betray each other. Galex. Now Complete.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ashes to Ashes or any of its characters. Depressing, isn't it?**

**AN: At the time of posting, I haven't quite finished this fic. I know how the plot wraps up, it's just what I do with the character(s)… ah, you'll see what I mean soon…**

**Kicking and Screaming**

The door to the Guv's office was burst open to reveal a furious Guv.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?"

His words were directed at Detective Inspector Alexandra Drake, ordinarily a picture of health but who was now bent over her desk coughing and spluttering. Her forehead was damp with sweat and despite her thick, heavy coat, she was shivering.

"I work here," she croaked.

Gene quickly charged towards her, bent down like a rhinoceros. His shoulder collided with her stomach and he quickly stood up so she was draped over him in a fireman's lift.

Alex feebly beat his back with her fists. "Gene! Put me down! This isn't funny!"

"Am I laughing?" shouted Gene, storming out of CID and outside. He adjusted Alex slightly so that her flailing feet were nowhere near his groin and crossed the road to Luigi's.

Gene kicked the door down to Alex's flat, marched to the bedroom and dumped her unceremoniously on the red sheets.

Alex sat up, brushing the curls out of her eyes. "That was completely unnecessary!"

"No it wasn't," Gene argued walking into her bathroom and throwing open the door to her medicine cabinet. He came back into her room brandishing a thermometer like a weapon.

"Here," he said and tried to put it in her mouth. Alex recoiled and snatched it out of his hand. She placed it under her tongue herself and glared at him.

"What did the doctor say, Alex?" asked Gene patronisingly.

"That I was sick," replied Alex thickly since her mouth was full of thermometer.

"When did he say you could return to work, Alex?"

"When my temperature was normal."

"And is it normal, Alex?"

"Look, I feel fine!" Alex cried. The thermometer fell out of her mouth but Gene caught it just before it smashed on the floor.

"No, is the answer to that," Gene said, "I told you that if you came into work before you were ready, I'd remove you by force."

"I didn't think you actually meant it," said Alex sulkily.

"The Gene Genie always means what he says, Bolls." Gene walked to her door and turned back to her. "Get some rest. You're no use to me ill."

Gene left and Alex scowled at the bedclothes. She shrugged off her coat, got under the covers and laid the coat over her. She was still cold all though she knew that this wasn't due to death in the real world. An army of nineteen-eighty-one viruses had declared war on her immune system. Apparently, she wasn't immune to this strain.

XXX

The door burst open to reveal a sceptical Guv.

This time, Alex wasn't hacking up her lungs. She stood facing him, holding a thermometer in her mouth as though it was a long cigarette. As Gene walked towards her, she batted her eyelashes at him. He watched her closely for any sign that she was unwell but there was none. No shivering, no damp forehead… she was still wearing her coat but that was because she had just come in.

Alex didn't remove the thermometer until Gene was standing right in front of her. He snatched it and scrutinised it. Alex tilted her head to one side as flirtatiously as she dared. _Well,_ _pretty please_ _can I stay_, she tried to make her eyes say.

Gene looked from the thermometer back to Alex's face. "I don't pay you to just stand around, Drake. Get to work!"

XXX

During the week Alex had been off sick, seven prostitutes had been found dead, three killed on Monday, two on Tuesday and the last two on Wednesday- a worrying number and also worryingly close to each other. They had been drugged, their throats had been slit and their bodies dumped by the river. No weapon had been found and forensics had found nothing.

"They all stripped at the same joint," Gene explained, "Owned by a Michelle Capstone. She's claiming to employ them only as strippers. Knows nothing about them as hookers but we know that's a lie."

"How?" asked Alex, taking a sip of her tea.

"Four of the girls can be linked to the same client, Thomas Bryson. He gets all his girls from Madam Capstone. She keeps an account of which clients see which girls, how much they make and what her cut is. She says they just give private dances. If they just give private dances, I'll eat my Quattro."

"Does Bryson have an alibi?"

"He does on Monday- round his Mum's house. Tuesday and Wednesday he doesn't, alone in his flat."

"What days were the girls he slept with killed on?"

"Tuesday and Wednesday."

"Ah."

"The thing is we can't link him to the other deaths. I know you'll say that maybe the deaths aren't linked but the circumstances are too similar."

"Maybe the culprit is a gang and Bryson is a small part of that."

"Maybe," said Gene, his voice lacking conviction, "We still can't link him to the other three and we can't find any motive for the other four."

"But he's the most common factor."

"Yes," said Gene, gazing out of the windows of his office, "I wish you were there in the interviews, Bolly. You could have used your psycho-nonsense on 'im and told me if he was guilty or not."

Alex smiled sympathetically. "It doesn't quite work like that, Guv."

"He's still the only lead we've got."

"What about Madam Capstone?"

"Alibi, she was working in the strip club 'til daylight. Her husband-" Gene paused as Alex spat out a mouthful of tea but otherwise pretended not to notice, "- is due in for questioning this afternoon."

"She has a husband?"

"Believe it or not, Bolls, brothel-madams are normal people too!" said Gene teasingly.

"Do you think it was him then?" asked Alex.

"Dunno. To be honest, Bolly, it could be anybody."


	2. Ray's Idea

**Thank you to those that have reviewed! Enjoy chapter 2…**

**Ray's Idea**

"Where were you on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday between the hours of eight in the evening and two the following morning?" barked Gene.

George Capstone leaned back in his chair, a smirk curling across his lips. He was about five-six and so shorter than both Gene and Alex. His hair was a light brown colour but there were streaks of grey at the temples and it had been slicked back with what Alex strongly suspected was Brylcreem. As she inhaled, the scent of Old Spice filled her nostrils. She smiled slightly, despite herself. Her father had used that scent.

"Horse and Falcon. You know it?" he sneered at Gene.

"Been there once or twice," replied Gene, his dislike for Capstone growing.

"You were there on all three nights?" asked Alex, trying to keep her voice neutral.

"Yeah, with a mate of mine, Jimmy Johnson."

"You were at the same place, three nights in a row, with the same person?" asked Alex, her voice no longer neutral. Disbelief dripped from every syllable.

Capstone's lawyer said, "I believe that's what my client said, DI Drake."

Alex's eyes flicked from Capstone to his lawyer and back again. She leaned against her chair. Finally, she said, "Did you ever have any sort of relationship with any of the girls that worked for your wife?"

"No."

"I'm not talking anything romantic… a shag, maybe, a fumbling grope in an alleyway-"

"DI Drake!" spluttered the lawyer as Capstone denied any such thing.

Capstone and his lawyer were dismissed. Alex ejected the cassette from the tape recorder and said to Gene, "what do you think?"

"We'll need to check his alibi, smarmy bastard."

"Being smarmy doesn't make him a killer, but I think you're right. He was very up himself."

"Things are looking bad for Thomas Bryson, aren't they?" said Gene, standing up and walking out of the interview room, Alex following. As they passed through the double doors of CID, he said, "What was that about 'all three nights' anyway?"

"I just don't know if it's normal to be out drinking three nights a row at the beginning of the week," Alex shrugged.

"What do you do every night?" smirked Gene.

"That's different!" Alex retorted dropping the cassette on Shaz's desk so she could type up the transcript and following Gene into his office, "I live just upstairs from Luigi's and it's with the whole of CID, not just one person-"

"Is it?" said Gene

Suddenly, the room felt very hot even though it was February. Gene had fixed her with an intense gaze and Alex didn't know where to look but she knew she couldn't meet his eyes. It wasn't true. She talked to the others, even when she and Gene had a table on their own; she still spoke to Ray, Chris and Shaz…

"I'll just, um, tell Ray to check the alibi," Alex stammered, backing out of the room.

XXX

"Jimmy Johnson confirms the alibi," said Ray to CID at large.

"Bugger," said Gene leaning against the doorframe of his office, "Did you go to the pub like Bolly asked you?"

"Yeah," said Ray, "and the barmen don't recall either of them there that night but they say it's not that unusual since they get really busy, even during the week."

"We can let Capstone off the hook then," frowned Gene, "especially as the pub is about ten miles from the river. Oh!" he broke off, realising something.

"What is it?" Alex asked from behind her desk

"Bryson's flat is half a mile from the river. Not looking good eh?"

"He's only half a suspect!" argued Alex, standing up, "It can't have been him on Monday."

"We found knives when we searched his flat!" said Gene triumphantly.

"What in the kitchen?" sneered Alex, "did they have blood on them?"

"No. It is possible to wash knives, Drake!"

"But you can't prove it! It won't stand up in court!"

"I have an idea," said Ray quietly.

Everyone turned to look at him. Gene had a sinking feeling that he wasn't going to like it.

"We can't link him forensically to the crimes so we'll have to trick him to confess. We've interviewed Mrs Capstone and some of the other girls he's gone with and we know he likes new girls, not virgins necessarily, just girls new to the world of prostitution. We also know he talks a lot to 'em."

"DS Carling, if you are proposing using a honey-trap, I will dice your knackers and pin them to the door of every strip joint in Soho!"

"It might work though," said Alex thoughtfully, "We need a confession and I don't see how we can get it any other way."

"I'm with the Guv," said Chris, surprisingly, "I think it's far too dangerous, risking the lives of innocent coppers. Also, that sort of action degrades women and promotes loose morals."

Ray rolled his eyes and muttered "poof" under his breath.

"It's alright Chris," said Alex kindly. "We can't use Shaz, Bryson would've seen her when he came in for questioning."

Suddenly, Gene saw the cogs in Alex's head stop turning and realised what conclusion she had come to. He slammed the door shut behind him and strode over to her desk, banging his fists down on her desk. "Over my dead body, DI Drake!"

Alex placed her fists on her desks, mirroring the Guv's pose. "Guv, he's our only suspect-"

"He's only half a suspect!" shouted Gene, throwing her words back at her.

"Well, half a suspect is better than none!" Alex shouted back, "I haven't been in the last week, let me try and-"

"And what, shag his guilty conscience to the forefront of his mind? What if he works out who you are? Or what if he doesn't, the man might be a killer, Alex! What if we find your body by the river?"

A heavy silence fell. Gene took his hands off Alex's desk and saw her do the same. As he turned away, thinking he had won, he heard Alex's voice.

"Well, we'll know it's him then."


	3. Marta

**Thank you, reviewers! This chapter is a little short but when you get to the end, hopefully you'll see why I chose to end it there. There's a Life on Mars reference here- the first of a few- but it shouldn't spoil it for anyone who's yet to watch that episode.**

**Marta**

Gene eyed Alex critically as she checked her lipstick in her compact mirror. It didn't really matter that she had done this before, that the very first time he had met her, she was dressed as a prostitute, working undercover. He hadn't known her then, hadn't cared about her then. He did know her now and didn't like Ray's plan one little bit.

Alex shut her mirror and looked at Gene unsmilingly. She wouldn't admit it to him but in truth, she was scared. She didn't know how to act or how far she was prepared to go for the information. Ray had told her about the swingers party in Manchester but Alex was stilled worried.

Still, it wasn't as though she'd be unprotected. She wasn't able to wear a wire but Gene had managed to search Bryson's flat a second time and bug it. They weren't very good- not by her modern standards anyway- but they were better than nothing. Chris would be in the van, listening to the bugs and Gene and Ray would be lurking outside the flat, ready to burst in when she had a confession.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to, Bolls," Gene said quietly.

"I know," said Alex. Gene talking like this was making her more nervous not less.

"Code word is Hari. I hear that and I break down the door faster than the French in a white flag factory."

Gene and Ray slinked a little way down the corridor and Alex rapped smartly on Bryson's door.

XXX

"The thing you should know about me Alex," said Bryson, tucking Alex's hair behind her ear, "is that I'm not like other clients."

"Oh?" said Alex breathlessly. She had been relieved of her fur coat and was sitting next to Bryson on his huge bed. She had been taken aback to find that Bryson was extremely good-looking, dark hair and eyes contrasting with beautiful light skin. As he kissed her neck and cheek, she could feel his eyelashes against her skin.

"It's not all about me. I like the prostitute to have a little pleasure too…"

It didn't take long for Alex to find out what he meant. Her dress was off, streaming along the floor and his hands and lips were all over her body, which was trembling. She forgot that she wasn't there to enjoy herself, that she had a job to do. The fingers that were caressing her so exquisitely could belong to a murderer, a man willing to kill her. She didn't care, she could barely remember her own name.

As she lay back with Bryson on her, a name was ripped from her lips as a whisper.

"_Gene…"_


	4. Hari

**As ever, thank you for your reviews! So… what happened next?**

**Hari**

Ray listened through the door, but he found that he wasn't enjoying it as much as he should. Ray felt that was because it was _DI Drake_, it was like listening to his mother. Like listening to his mother with a man who wasn't his father, so he gave up. He snuck a look at the Guv and wasn't surprised to see that his face had an expression that would make a tropical storm envious.

Chris' voice crackled over the radio, "Something's wrong."

Gene lifted his gun, "Break down the door Carling."

"Hold your fire, Guv," said Chris.

"Skelton, if Drake is in trouble and we don't-"

"She's asking him questions, he might admit-"

Then Alex's voice, a scream that ripped through Gene's chest like a knife.

"Hari! Hari!"

"Go, go, go, go!" barked Gene as Ray broke down the door.

Bryson leapt up off Alex- who, to Gene's relief was still wearing her underwear- and stared at Gene triumphantly.

"So she is an officer! I knew it."

"You're nicked, you murdering bastard!" Gene shouted and was taken aback to see Bryson throw his head back and howl with laughter.

"But it wasn't me! I know it wasn't and you can't prove it."

Gene looked around at Alex in confusion, "But didn't you get it out of him?"

Alex shook her head in misery and wiped the blood from her nose. Gene suddenly understood. Alex hadn't cried Hari because they had finally got their man, it was because he had hurt her, he had struck her across the face, putting her in danger. Gene didn't know what angered him more, Bryson's attack on his officer or Alex's failure to get a confession. Still, it wasn't her fault. It was a stupid idea, and Gene felt more anger bubble up inside him, this time directed at Ray. It was his stupid idea anyway.

Instead of acting on his anger, Gene turned back to their suspect. "Thomas Bryson, I am arresting you for the assault of a police officer."

XXX

_Heavy breathing, then silence_

"_What did you say?"_

"_Nothing, I-"_

"_You're one of them, aren't you?"_

_Silence_

"_AREN'T YOU? You're a COPPER!"_

"_Did you kill those girls?"_

"_No."_

"_Why did you kill them?"_

"_I didn't, you slut."_

"_Those girls you bought-"_

_Thuds_

_Another_

_Another_

_A scream _

"_Hari! Hari!"_

XXX

As Alex listened back to the tapes, she breathed a sigh of relief, but she was the only one. The bugs hadn't picked up on her saying Gene's name, but she had failed. Bryson had got away due to her stupidity, her complete failure to question him until the end when it was too late.

Worst of all, she was now convinced it was him, despite the alibi. He had attacked her when he feared she was getting too close to the truth, a theory Gene had shot down instantly. As far as Gene was concerned, she had failed and made a laughing stock of him. The assault charges against him had been dropped, since Alex was basically a prostitute who, in the eyes of any jury, had asked for it. Alex had protested loudly but had been forced to see Gene's point. It didn't matter that he had hit her after working it out. The fact remained about how she was there, who she was pretending to be.

Listening to the tapes, as far as everyone except Alex was concerned, was pretty much a formality anyway. That night, a call came to Gene's office. Sarah South was on the other end, saying that she had heard about their investigation from her friend at another pub. She was a barmaid at the Horse and Trap and she had definitely served George Capstone at least one drink, around midnight. She didn't know if he was there all night or who he was with due to the crowd inside, but that wasn't the point was it, thought Gene as he thanked her and hung up the phone and left his office to go to Luigi's about an hour after everyone else.

George had said he was in another pub. New evidence contradicted that. It no longer mattered that Drake had failed with Bryson. He, despite her insistence, hadn't done it. Gene now knew who had.

XXX

Alex was completely miserable. Had she got Bryson like she was supposed to have done, last night in Luigi's should have been wonderful, honouring her skill as an officer. Instead, Ray and Chris had barely looked at her and Gene had turned up an hour late, had a pint, talked to Ray and Chris, then left without speaking to her. Alex had doubted he had ever left Luigi's so sober. Even Shaz had avoided her. She said she was going home to change but instead she called Luigi's to say she was ill and so would be giving it a miss so she could still be in tomorrow.

The next day at the station was no better. Everyone was in already- including Shaz, despite her illness. Gene had Ray in his office and the two of them seemed to be arguing over something. _So I've been replaced that quickly_, thought Alex sadly.

The door opened. She heard Ray say something about, "Falcon, I'm sure it was," before Gene called over to her.

"Boll- Drake. What was the name of the pub that George Capstone said he'd been in each of those nights?"

"I can't remember, Guv," said Alex and instantly regretted it as she saw the looks CID gave each other. An officer who couldn't remember the stories of the suspects in a murder investigation? She really was useless.

She tried to redeem herself. "The Horse and Falcon?"

"The Horse and Trap?" asked Gene carefully.

"No," she replied, "The Horse and Falcon. Definitely."

There was silence as Gene held a piece of paper in front of her eyes. Alex scanned it quickly, recognising it as the transcript of the interview Capstone had given her and Gene. Her stomach swooped unpleasantly.

"Then why does it say here that Capstone was in the Horse and Trap?" said Gene, brandishing the typed transcript of the interview, "It doesn't help that the recording's gone bloody AWOL as well!"

"Maybe it was the Trap," said Alex, trying to restore peace to the situation, but it backfired horribly.

"Do you not know, Drake? Can you not remember? I think you're losing your touch, Inspector. Once upon a time I thought you'd make a good officer. How I hate being proven wrong."

Alex stared back at Gene, willing herself not to cry. She hated him, completely hated him. She knew it was all down to the Bryson thing, he was punishing her for it. _It was Ray's idea, _she wanted to scream, but deep down, she agreed. She hated herself.

"It was the Falcon," Alex said quietly so as to hide the cracks in her voice, "The Horse and Falcon. I remember, he asked if you had been there."

"I've been to the Horse and Trap too!" yelled Gene, the volume of his voice at odds with Alex's choked whisper, "The fact is, if it says the Horse and Trap on the transcript, then it was the Horse and Trap! How could the transcript have changed?"

Alex had no answer.

"Who sent Carling on a wild goose chase in the wrong pub?" yelled Gene, turning to Ray.

Ray looked straight at Alex. Another nail in the coffin of her career.

XXX

Ray found Shaz in the kitchen. She grinned broadly at him and offered him a cup of tea, which he accepted gratefully.

"It's all my fault," he said, careful to keep his voice low, "About the Guv and Ma'am, I mean."

"What are you talking about?" asked Shaz quickly.

"He really hates her. He's been fighting with her a lot since that night."

"They fight all the time," said Shaz, handing Ray his mug.

"Not like this," said Ray, "And it is my fault. That Bryson thing was my idea and now I've dropped her in it again. The thing is, I'm sure it was the Horse and Falcon I saw when Drake sent me look for information. Drake's not incompetent, whatever the Guv seems to think. If she sent me there, it was for a reason," he stopped to sip his tea then continued, "but why is the transcript different?"

"I don't think the Guv really thinks the Ma'am is incompetent," said Shaz, turning around to wash up some mugs in the sink. I think he's just jealous that it was Bryson and not him."

Ray snorted and turned to leave. "Thanks for the tea, Shaz." He noticed that she didn't reassure him that it wasn't his fault.

Just as Ray was thanking Shaz, Alex hurried away from the doorway that led to the kitchen. She knew she shouldn't listen through doors but she couldn't help herself. For the first time in a long time, she really, really hated her life here.

XXX

Alex was sleeping on her sofa when a sudden noise woke her up. As she lay there in the dazed realm of being half-awake, she realised that not only was it still the middle of the night, but a knock at the door had woken her up. Swearing softly, she opened the door, ready to give Gene a good bollocking for waking her up.

Still, it was nice to know that he was finally ready to talk to her properly. Maybe now they could get back some of their old camaraderie, cleaning the streets of London, like they were supposed to.

Gene wasn't there. No-one was, the corridor outside was completely deserted. As Alex shut the door, she noticed something yellow on the floor and realised the noise that woke her hadn't been a knock, it had been the letterbox banging shut.

She picked up the yellow paper. It was stiff, like card and wasn't in an envelope. It had obviously been hand delivered. Alex turned it over and what she read made her feel nausea.

_Wouldn't it be horrible if something bad happened to Gene?_


	5. The Robbery

**Your reviews make my day, so thank you! And Elliewelly1, I think I accidently sent you a minor spoiler- I hope you didn't notice…**

**The Robbery**

Gene Hunt hated the world.

He rarely completely loved it- he definitely wasn't the sort to go around smelling flowers and composing poetry about the beauty of meadows or any rubbish like that. But he rarely felt as pissed off as he did now. And it was all her fault.

Gene knew he was being unreasonable. He should have rejected Ray's idea immediately. Alex had been lucky that she wasn't hurt more. The lack of confession hadn't mattered since he probably hadn't done it after all and Alex, in a way, had proved that.

He still couldn't bring himself to be nice to her. This morning, she had been the first one to arrive, after himself, and had bound over to his door, wrenched it open and asked if he was all right, a worried look on her face.

"Why do you care?" he had snapped, causing the worry to be replaced by indignation and for her to slam his door shut and make her way back to her desk.

He hated himself for it. He was being a prick and he knew it but just as he was about to open the door and apologise to her, he could hear the tape in his mind and could see her with him. He knew it had just been a job, she didn't like him and that if Alex had chosen to sleep with someone outside of the investigation, there wasn't a damned thing he could do about it. She still hadn't told him what had given the game away, just been evasive about him 'working it out'.

He still couldn't forgive her. Not yet.

XXX

The night after the first letter, there was another. Alex picked up as though it was explosive and turned it over.

It was the same as before, same card, same lack of envelope and stamp, same typing on one side. Only this time, the words were different.

_You have three days to leave the Force. If you fail, we will kill Gene Hunt. If you tell anyone about this letter, we will kill Gene Hunt._

Alex put the letter in a shoebox with the first one and sat on her sofa, her heart hammering. She knew she was supposed to be scared and she was, she was completely terrified. However, she knew there was another possibility- could this be her way home? Was it beyond the realms of possibility that these letters were coming from the future?

XXX

Alex was halfway up the stairs leading into Fenchurch East station when Gene stormed past her, Ray and Chris following behind. She watched as he wrenched open the door of the Quattro and barked back at her, "Drake! Get a move on! There's a robbery at Fenchurch Jewels. If we go now, we can catch the bastards red-handed."

Alex leapt into the Quattro. It was the third day after receiving her latest threat. She hadn't left the force, she hadn't told anyone about the letters and she was running out of time. Gene, whilst had stopped any open hostility to her, still wasn't talking to her properly. He was skipping Luigi's, not consulting her about decisions and refusing to call her Bolly.

As the Quattro sped along, Alex thought maybe if she did well today, Gene would look at her again, properly and without the disappointment in his eyes. She would show them she wasn't useless.

XXX

"There they are!" cried Chris, completely unnecessarily.

Gene spun the Quattro around so that it blocked the getaway car. A squad car blocked the car from behind, preventing the robbers from reversing away.

The Manc Lion got out of the Quattro and slammed the door shut. Alex, Ray and Chris also got out. Three men got out of the getaway car wearing balaclavas, one carrying a large sack and tried to run for it.

Ray and Chris were hot on their tail as the robbers weaved between uniformed officers and frightened members of the public. Gene walked forward to inspect the car as Alex turned to those that had been in the jewellers at the time of the robbery to find out exactly what had happened.

The car wasn't empty. A fourth man jumped out of the car and kneed Gene in the groin, causing him to cry out and Alex to look up. As Gene fought back, the fourth man brought out a gun and held it to Gene's temple.

"The sad thing is," whispered the robber, "she could have stopped this."

There was a gunshot, then silence.


	6. Dead

**Thank you to everyone that's reviewed, I love them! Here is chapter six.**

**Dead**

"Who are you?"

The girl simply smiled and turned away. She started running, small feet slapping lightly on the cold floor, mousy hair streaming behind her, like vapour trails from a plane.

_So much like my hair when I was younger_, thought Alex as she chased the girl. To her shock she caught her. A beautiful warmth nestled against her chest, affection accumulated in the crooks of her elbows and the valley between her fingers. Alex stood, barely able to breathe. Did this mean…?

"Moll-"

And she was gone.

XXX

Shaz walked along the corridors as quickly as she dared, clutching a bunch of daffodils in her right hand. She came to the room the receptionist had told her would contain her senior officer and pushed it open.

The Guv looked back at her with red rimmed eyes and wet cheeks. Shaz quickly turned away, putting the flowers in a vase of water. When she looked back, the Guv's cheeks were dry but Shaz knew that his hands wouldn't be.

"They're holding out hope for a full recovery," said Gene hoarsely.

Shaz said nothing, instead turning to look at the occupant of the bed. Gene turned to look too.

XXX

Alex was trying to talk to a witness when she heard someone cry out in pain. She looked up and she saw Gene fighting one of the robbers- but how could that be? Where had this one come from? Without really thinking about it, she took her gun out of its holster.

She watched as Gene stopped fighting. Alex strained to see what had made him give up and felt her heart leap into her mouth as a robber held a gun to Gene's head.

She hesitated only to aim.

There was a gunshot, then silence.

The robber fell on top of Gene and Gene pushed him off roughly. He held his fingers against the robber's neck and looked up as Alex ran towards him.

"Nice shot, Bolls. Right in the back of the head. You've killed him."

"Damn," said Alex, almost giddy with happiness that her nickname had been re-instated, "we can't question him now."

"Can't say I'm too upset, Bolly." There was a warmth in Gene's eyes that Alex hadn't seen for days. As Gene got up from the ground, they heard Ray's voice twice- once over the radio and once over the air, but saying the same thing at the same time.

"Look out! They're coming your way!"

Alex and Gene turned to face the Quattro. Running up behind the car were the other three robbers, Ray and Chris some metres behind them. One of the robbers took out a gun and pointed it forwards.

"Get him!" screamed another of the robbers, "Get Hunt!"

Gene heard Alex cry "No!" and the gun firing at the same time. Alex was in front of him and then she wasn't. She lay on the ground in front of him, blood leaking from her chest.

She had jumped in front of him. Alex Drake, the woman he had treated so appallingly, had taken a bullet meant for him.

"Alex," he whispered, kneeling down beside her. She looked back at him with dull eyes, blood trickling out of her mouth. Hazel orbs disappeared behind eyelids. Gene began to plead with her in a way he knew he never would had she been able to hear him.

"Don't shut your eyes. Don't sleep, not yet. Please. I'm sorry about everything, Bolls. You're a good copper, I'm sorry if I ever told you differently. You've saved my life twice in about ten minutes. Please don't die…"

Behind him, Ray and Chris cuffed the robbers that had tried to kill Gene Hunt and ended up shooting Alex Drake.

XXX

Gene looked from Alex's comatose form in the bed, back to Shaz. Shaz was already looking at him.

"They're right, you know Guv," she was saying, "she really will be alright."

"Can you promise me that, Shaz?"

Shaz's face crumpled into tears and she ran forwards, burying her face in Gene's chest. Gene gingerly patted her on the back and was relieved when she broke away.

"I'm sorry," she choked through her tears, "It's just I hate to see her lying there like she's… like she's…"

Gene finished the sentence for her. "Like she's dead."

XXX

Alex examined her hands and her arms, still tingling from human contact. Who this human had been, she couldn't say. She could taste something in her mouth, a rusty metal, but as soon as she identified it as blood, it was gone, replace by chilled air. Then came the vacuum and Alex felt as though the insides of her cheeks would be sucked down her throat. Then came the taste of dirt, bitter flakes of dry soil, a hymn sung by a young girl and a wail. A girl crying for her mother.

Then came nothing.


	7. Extension

**Extension**

Gene had originally insisted that he be allowed to stay by Alex's bedside until she came round and had even written to the Super asking for leave. However, they still had a prozzie-killing nutter on the loose and eventually he had to return to work. He left the hospital staff with strict instructions to give him reports on Alex's condition every hour and to call him the minute she came round.

If she came round.

They hadn't bothered to interview the robbers- what was the point when everybody had seen what they had done? Something had bothered him though- the way one of them had screamed "Get Hunt" and what the other one had said about someone being able to stop it.

Gene told himself he was being silly. Conspiracies were Alex's territory and didn't exist anyway. They probably had some grudge against him, maybe he nicked their uncle or something. But then, who could've stopped it?

They had no new leads on the murder. Ray had gone around the Horse and Trap, muttering under his breath the whole way, but to no avail. Gene was sure Capstone had said the Horse and Falcon. Hadn't he recognised the name of the pub as soon as Capstone had mentioned it? The Horse and Trap was much closer to the river and barely five metres from where one of the bodies was found, but there was no proof.

Maybe it was the Horse and Trap and he was just losing his marbles.

His phone rang. Gene held the receiver to his ear for about twenty seconds before replacing it firmly and running out of CID and into his Quattro.

XXX

"She's been shouting for you," smiled the nurse as Gene entered Alex's room.

Gene barely heard. He had eyes only for Alex.

"How are you?" she asked timidly- that wasn't like her.

"Fine," he frowned, shouldn't he be asking her that? "An' you?"

She seemed not to hear, instead looking at the card she held in her hand- _his_ get-well card, he noted with a stab of joy.

"I was worried," she began quietly, "that something might have happened."

"It did, didn't it?" said Gene, and Alex looked up so sharply he jumped. "I mean, you took a bullet in the ticker and nearly… nearly died."

"How long was I out for?"

"Few days. When are they letting you outta here?"

"We need to observe her tonight," answered the nurse, "and then we can discharge her tomorrow."

XXX

Gene came to the hospital to pick her up and take her back to her flat. He refused to let her carry anything, except her stack of get-well cards. Alex made him a cup of tea and asked him what the robbers had meant about "Get Hunt!"

"Do you think there's some kind of vendetta against you? Who wants you dead?"

"Most of the criminal underworld, Bolls," Gene sighed.

"Yes, maybe," said Alex doubtfully. She knew it must've been the same people that had sent her the letters. This was their way of carrying out their threat. She had not left the force, so Gene had to die. It was pure good luck that the bullet had got her and not him.

When she came round, she was in a state of panic, convinced that someone was going to tell her Gene had died. She had called for him, like she had called for her parents in the nights after their deaths. The nurses had shown her an unopened envelope containing Gene's card, _Bolls_ scrawled at the top and his name scribbled underneath, completely devoid of any sentimental words or kisses. Still Alex had clutched it to herself and had almost forgotten about the other cards.

She eventually opened them just as the nurses told her that Gene was on his way. Amongst the cards she had been expecting- Ray, Chris, Shaz and Viv, was another envelope with her name typed across it, rather than written.

She opened it with shaky fingers to reveal a piece of yellow card.

_See how serious we are Alex? If you're reading this, we'll assume you didn't die. What a pity. That was one way to get you out of the Force after all._

_The fact remains that you are still employed by the Met and Hunt is still alive. So, we will give you an extension. Hand in your notice by next Monday or we will kill Gene Hunt. If you tell anyone about these notes, we will kill Gene Hunt. This time, we will not make mistakes._

As she sat on the sofa next to Gene, she considered her position. It was Monday and she had a week to quit. She was no longer in any doubt that whoever was writing those letters was serious about the threats and they probably weren't going to help her get home. She tried to ask about interviewing the robbers but they had already been taken from Fenchurch East and put into a prison. She didn't know how to tell Gene she wanted to talk to them without him asking questions that she couldn't answer. Not without risking his life.

Gene left Alex's flat mid-afternoon and made his way back to the station, having agreed that she would be back at work on Thursday. It wasn't until he was back in his office that he realised.

Alex had made no argument about returning to work on Thursday. Before her injury, she would have fought with him, tooth and nail, to return earlier. He had to carry her out of the office during her flu spell, literally kicking and screaming.

Why had she given in so easily? What had changed?

**Sorry if you feel that Alex came round too quickly but the story can't progress if Alex is out for too long. Thank you for reviewing the other chapters and if you want, please review this one…? Thank you!**


	8. The Letter on Gene's Desk

**Another short chapter, but there's no need for it to be any longer and it wraps up this part of the story so we can get on with the rest. Enjoy!**

**The Letter on Gene's Desk**

Alex was in the corridor outside the main office of CID when she heard Gene yell.

"BOLLY! GET IN HERE NOW!"

Swallowing nervously, she pushed open one of the double doors and saw Gene in the doorway of his office looking at her with a mixture of anger and sadness.

"In here," he breathed, indicating his office with a nod of his head. Alex walked forward, conscious of the eyes of everyone on her as they wondered what she had done to provoke this kind of reaction from the Guv.

He shut the door behind her and picked up a letter from his desk. "What's this?"

"My resignation letter," said Alex, clearly. She had already spent the previous night agonising and weeping over her decision. She had no tears left. "I plan to leave on Monday."

"Why, Alex?" he asked, helplessly.

"I'm a liability to you, Guv," she said.

Gene looked at her in shock. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, let's see," she said, her voice shaking, despite herself, "I messed up the undercover operation with Bryson. I sent Ray to the wrong pub. I got shot on what should have been a simple robbery-"

"That wasn't your fault!" snapped Gene, "That bullet was meant for me!"

"But you said it yourself," said Alex. None of these reasons were true, but she couldn't tell him the truth, "You thought I'd make a good officer, but you were wrong."

Gene flinched as though she had stabbed him through the heart. Perhaps she had.

"I didn't mean it. Damn it, Drake, you're a fine officer," He moved forward and took her hand in his, "We're supposed to be unbreakable, Bolls, the ones with a connection."

Alex realised she had been wrong earlier. There were tears fighting to get past her eyes. "We are," she whispered, "I'm sorry."

"Alex," Gene breathed, "I can't let you do this." Alex noticed his hand was trembling in hers.

"You can't stop me, Gene."

Alex dropped Gene's hand and wrenched open the door. She ran through CID and out of the station into the car park. She leaned against the pillar and finally allowed the tears to come and flow freely down her cheeks.


	9. Action in the Ladies

**Thank you for the reviews. Now, who wants to party?**

**Action in the Ladies**

Luigi's had been transformed. Huge balloons in pink and white fixed to the walls, pink and white roses overflowing out of vases on the tables and Bowie blasting out of the speakers. Alex walked into a space that had been cleared between the tables- the dance floor, she assumed- and tapped her friend on the shoulder.

Shaz turned around, squealed when she saw Alex and threw her arms around her.

"Happy birthday, Shaz," Alex smiled and gave Shaz a small box, wrapped up in red paper and silver ribbon. "And congratulations on becoming a DC!"

"Thank you!" Shaz exclaimed and ripped off the paper in a way that reminded Alex of Molly at Christmas. Shaz opened the box and cooed at the diamond earrings inside before hugging Alex again.

"Where is everyone?" Alex asked.

"Well, Chris is um, here," Shaz giggled as Chris appeared with a glass of wine for Shaz and holding one himself. Alex giggled too. Shaz was clearly quite merry and by the look in his eyes so was Chris, "Ray is behind you talking to Leanne- that's my flatmate, I'll introduce you later. The Guv is around somewhere. I know it's Luigi's but I'm not sure this is really his scene. He'll be pleased you're here though. We haven't seen you in ages."

Alex chatted to Shaz and Chris before going to the bar which was crowded with Shaz's friends, all in their mid-twenties, doing shots, drinking wine and flirting with each other. _They all seem so young,_ she thought as she tried to catch Luigi's eye.

God, the place was crowded. Alex was about to give up on getting a drink when an empty wine glass was placed firmly on the bar in front of her. A bottle of red hovered above it from which wine flowed neatly into the glass.

"Thanks, Gene," Alex smiled, looking up.

"Thought you'd appreciate a decent glass of wine since you're on the dole- not that this place knows about decent wine," Gene took a drag on his cigarette and exhaled. "I don't recognise the place, do you Bolls? Bloody balloons everywhere."

"I'm not sure I'd recognise it normally," said Alex, looking around. Ray caught her eye and waved before turning his attention back to a blonde- Leanne, she assumed, all though she wouldn't have put it past Ray to have moved on already.

"You stopped coming," said Gene, accusingly.

Alex sighed. "I've been busy trying to find a new job."

"What, every night?" Gene snorted.

Alex was lying. The reason she had been avoiding Luigi's was simple, she didn't feel like she belonged any more. She wasn't allowed to know about cases for security reasons (even though some of them could be indiscrete) and couldn't laugh at their in-jokes any more. She had nothing to fight Gene about and she resented how clique-y they were, even though she had been a member of that clique just a week ago. In the end, she had just stayed upstairs.

Just as Alex was trying to think of another excuse, Gene grunted, "doesn't matter," and filled up her glass. Rather than feeling relieved, Alex just felt sad. Their old chemistry had gone, their banter and arguing just didn't happen anymore. Perhaps that antagonistic side of Gene was something only his DI saw. Speaking of which…

"DI Carling!" she cried as Ray approached the bar with Leanne. Ray grinned at her and made quick introductions.

Leanne was stunning. Golden hair flowed down her back, ending in a lake of curls somewhere around her bottom. Her eyes were a piercing blue which oddly seemed to match the deep red that she had painted her full lips. If it wasn't for the criminally short skirt and leather knee high boots, she would have been indistinguishable from a Disney princess.

"You must be DCI Hunt," she said, smiling flirtatiously at Gene.

"Gene," he said, "Drink?"

Alex rolled her eyes. She had been watching Gene's eyes and had seen the amount the pupils had dilated as soon as Leanne had approached. She had watched as Gene's eyes had travelled down Leanne's body, taking in her ample cleavage and long legs.

"So, you're a _detective,_" Leanne purred, "What's it like dealing with _murderers_? Don't you get scared?"

Gene exhaled a huge gust of smoke in an attempt to look impressive.

"All in a day's work love. And those scum are more afraid of me than I am of them."

"How do you catch them?" Leanne asked, her eyes wide, "Is it true that every murderer makes four mistakes that mean you can catch them?"

Alex rolled her eyes but Gene wasn't even looking at her. All his attention was focused on Leanne. Alex turned around to talk to Ray, ignoring Gene and Leanne.

"Well done on the promotion, Ray."

"Thanks," Ray shrugged, "But you know I only got it because you left."

"Oh, that's not true-"

"It is," Ray interrupted, "It's different without you Ma'am- Alex. The Guv hasn't been the same since you left. And we've got nowhere on those prozzie murders."

"I'm not coming back, Ray," said Alex softly.

"But you never explained why you left-"

"Yes I did," said Alex sharply.

"Because of the pub thing? Maybe it was the Horse and Falcon. I've been trying to remember if I saw the transcript of the interview before…" he trailed off, frowning in concentration.

Ray drifted off and Leanne and Gene were still talking, Gene sucking on his cigarette and Leanne throwing her long blonde hair over her shoulder as she laughed. Alex thought she had a very annoying laugh. She looked around for a means of escape and saw Chris and Shaz sitting at a table. Just as Alex left the bar, Chris got up and left. Alex hurried over.

"Nice earrings," she grinned.

"Thanks," Shaz grinned back, her speech slurred, "a really good friend brought them for me today."

Alex guiltily gulped her wine, promising that she would call Shaz more often. She didn't deserve to be called a 'really good friend'. The clique-nature of Fenchurch East wouldn't matter so much when it was just them. As they chatted, Alex looked up at the bar as often as she dared. Leanne had her arm around Gene as she whispered in his ear. He appeared to be listening intently, and watching her leg as she stroked it seductively with her other hand.

Eventually, Leanne left Gene and Alex breathed a sigh of relief.

XXX

Chris spat out the last remains of vomit, cringed at the lavatory bowl and wiped his mouth. Flushing the loo, he walked out of the cubicle and leaned over the sink.

"You look unwell, Chris," a voice said.

"You shouldn't be in 'ere," he groaned, looking up, "Is Gents."

"It's definitely the Ladies," said Leanne, making her way over to Chris. He noticed, even in his drunken state, how much her hips were swaying, and how much it was turning him on.

Chris tried to walk past Leanne but her hand on his arm stopped him. Her face moved closer to his and as her minty breath mixed with his vomit-smelling breath, he forgot that this was a very bad idea. He drunkenly moved his arm around her back and pushed his lips to hers.

They kissed for a while, messily, wetly. Saliva was glooping on Chris' chin and Leanne's lipstick was smearing across his cheek. They were so engrossed, they didn't notice the door to the bathroom open until a female voice shrieked, "What are you doing?"


	10. The Gene and Alex Afterparty

**So are we all hating Leanne? Good. Thank you for your reviews of the other chapters :D**

**The Gene and Alex Afterparty**

A flash of panic briefly sobered Chris before he sighed in relief. It wasn't Shaz, his girlfriend and- oh dear God- Leanne's flatmate, but DI Drake.

Alex rushed over to them. Leanne broke away from Chris and checked herself out in the mirror, retouching her lipstick. Alex took hold of Chris just before he fell.

"Jesus, Chris," she said, wiping his face clean, "What are you doing?"

"I'm pissed," he groaned. Alex turned around to face Leanne.

"This is your flatmate's boyfriend," she said accusingly, "Are you insane?"

"What? He's cute," Leanne shrugged, "besides, he kissed me back."

"He's drunk and you took advantage!" cried Alex, feeling her voice rise as she lost her temper.

"Oh please!" shouted Leanne, finally breaking eye contact with her reflection and glaring at Alex, "He's not some innocent virgin, he can take care of himself. Shaz should pay him more attention. That might stop him snogging other girls!"

With that, Leanne left and Alex felt her hatred for the girl soar. Turning her attention back to Chris, she saw that he had fallen asleep in her arms. Sighing, she hauled him out of the bathroom and left him safely under a table in the restaurant.

XXX

Alex rolled her eyes as Gene opened his hipflask and pour a generous amount of whiskey into the tea she had made him. At the look on her face, Gene added a splash to hers.

"Thanks for letting me kip on your sofa, Bolly."

"Well, you aren't fit to drive home," she replied.

"Same as everyone else, Bolls. Did you see Chris sleeping under the table?" he chuckled. "Ray left with that Leanne bird- I look forward to teasing him about it on Monday."

Alex just sipped her tea sadly. She wouldn't be in on Monday.

"I thought Leanne was a nice girl, didn't you?" said Gene conversationally (well, for him anyway), "Shaz has known her since school in Essex, they moved to London together after school."

"I thought she was a manipulative bitch, actually," said Alex airily. Gene stared at her in disbelief.

"Why?"

"Just the air I got from her," said Alex, her stomach twisting painfully. She couldn't tell Gene about what Chris had done. She didn't know if Chris even remembered.

"People don't just have opinions about other people without any reason, not even women," said Gene making Alex wish that he'd just drop it, like he had earlier.

"I just didn't like her, that's all."

"What, because she's young and pretty?" Gene smirked, causing a rush of anger to flow through Alex's veins.

"I'm young and pretty!" she insisted.

"Or because she was talking to me?"

It was Alex's turn to stare at Gene in shock. Gene instantly wished he hadn't said anything as the silence that followed enveloped them. He felt he was suffocating.

As hurt as he was that Alex had left CID, he was aware that she was no longer his DI and he was no longer her DCI. There was no conflict of interest if he didn't spend all night on her sofa, if he chose to sleep somewhere else in her flat. Now however, it seemed he had blown it.

"The world doesn't revolve around you, Gene," she hissed, "I don't take it upon myself to hate every pair of legs that you engage in conversation. Why is it so difficult for you to believe that there may have been other reasons?"

"Like what?" Gene demanded with more anger than he really felt.

"Like, it's none of your business," Alex retorted.

"You don't tell me anything anymore, do you Drake?" Gene yelled, standing up. Alex watched him with hurt eyes. "You won't tell me how Bryson figured out you were undercover, you won't tell me the real reason you left-"

"I did tell you!" Alex shouted back, now also standing up, hoping that Gene couldn't tell she was lying. Despite herself, she could feel her eyes being drawn to the shoebox on the coffee table that contained those letters, "And furthermore, I don't have to tell you everything! You're not my DCI anymore."

"I thought I was your friend!"

"Then why do you still call me Drake?"

Gene had no answer to that. Alex looked away from him and Gene knew her eyes were welling up and that she was hiding them from him. He felt like the world's worst scumbag, making Alex cry. He wondered if he was the reason she had left, she just couldn't put up with him anymore. Maybe he was why she avoided Luigi's.

Maybe Alex was right and he thought the world revolved around him.

Alex went into her living area and wrenched open a cupboard. She pulled out a blanket, a cushion and dumped them roughly on her sofa.

"Goodnight, Gene," she said icily, before storming off into her room.


	11. Small Animal

**Thank you for the reviews for the last chapter. Hope you enjoy chapter 11.**

**Small Animal**

When Alex awoke, she saw that Gene had left, all though he had folded up his blanket along with an old newspaper that had "thanks Bolls" scrawled across one corner. She also found a yellow piece of paper on her doormat that must have arrived after Gene had left. It bore the words: _Stay away from Luigi's._

Alex made herself a cup of coffee and brought that day's newspaper towards her and started circling job vacancies in red pen. Before long, her mind wandered, as it always did, to Gene Hunt.

They had always argued. Usually they argued over work, a policing method that Gene used that disagreed with her morals or a psychological profile that didn't match his gut instinct. Those fights were resolved within days if nor hours. They had to be if they were going to work together in such close quarters with such a tight group.

But she wasn't part of that tight group anymore. She couldn't walk into CID the next day and discuss cases with Gene as though they hadn't fought a few days before. There would be no closure. She wasn't really sure when she would see him next- unless she went to Luigi's. Alex didn't think she could face him without the distraction of work.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. She grimaced and went to open it, thinking that it was Gene to either apologise (yeah right) or continue their fight. When she opened the door, however, she saw that it couldn't possibly have been Gene as the knock had been too soft and too polite- and scared.

"Come in Chris."

"Thanks Ma'am," he said, nervously wiping his feet on her mat.

"You don't have to call me that you know," Alex replied without smiling but still she took two mugs from her cupboards and put the kettle on. She didn't want to hate Chris Skelton- she wasn't sure she could- but she felt loyalty to Shaz. "Tea?"

"Ta," Chris muttered, looking at the floor.

Neither of them said anything until the tea was brewed. Chris was scared and Alex didn't rush him. She took her time adding milk and sugar, giving him a few moments to collect his thoughts.

Finally he said, "Have you told Shaz?"

"No," said Alex, knowing exactly what he was talking about, "Have you?"

Chris shook his head. "She doesn't know. Leanne hasn't told her either, I think."

"You need to consider the possibility that she will, Chris," said Alex seriously, "They do live together after all."

A tear escaped from Chris' eye. "I didn't mean to, Ma'am. It was just a kiss, a stupid, drunken kiss and I didn't know how to stop. I love Shaz and this guilt is killing me."

He broke down into tears and Alex patted his arm sympathetically.

"Do you think I should beg Leanne to not tell her?" Chris asked when he had stopped crying.

"Do you think that's the right thing to do?" Alex asked.

"She can't know," said Chris, "It'll break her heart and she'd never speak to me again."

"She might forgive you," said Alex, "You said yourself, you were drunk, you didn't know how to stop and I _know_ you love Shaz."

"She won't," said Chris miserably.

"Look, what if it was the other way around? What if Shaz had drunkenly kissed someone else? Someone that she didn't love or like romantically, she had just had too much to drink could you forgive her?"

"I-I dunno," said Chris, furrowing his brow in thought, "I would be upset, really sad. But I guess… I love Shaz. I would forgive her."

"Would you prefer to hear it from her? Or from the other guy?"

"From her," replied Chris, reluctantly.

"What if… what if the other man was Ray? Your best friend?"

"That's different. That's not what happened," said Chris shortly, his fingers tightening around his mug so much his knuckles turned white.

"Your best friend, her best friend," said Alex, "Same difference."

Chris' hand relaxed but not because he was relieved. He put his half-empty mug on the side.

"I acted like a prick but the truth is, I love Shaz, more than anything. I can't lose her but I can't keep feeling guilty, keep panicking that Leanne is gonna say something."

"Then you know what you need to do, don't you?" said Alex gently.

XXX

Chris left Alex's flat feeling… not happy exactly but the small animal that had been chewing at his stomach seemed to be losing its appetite. He was going to do it. He was going to go to Shaz's flat _right now_ and tell her. Get her to come for a walk or something and tell her. Get it over and done with so she could hate him or whatever. Chris thought he deserved that. He hoped she would forgive him.

Chris let himself in with his spare key. Shaz had given it to him ages ago when he was spending a ridiculous amount of time at work at night without her and she didn't want to get out of bed to let him in. He could have always gone back to his own place but then they would never have seen each other and probably have broken up.

The irony that the key that stopped them breaking up was now probably going to facilitate a breakup was not lost on Chris.

XXX

Twenty minutes later, Chris left Shaz's flat almost running. He knew he should go back to see DI Drake but he couldn't. He needed Shaz, needed to find her. No, not yet, he needed to think. Gather his thoughts.

Shaz had been out. Leanne had been in. And the small animal in his stomach was gnawing away with a vengeance.


	12. Whodunnit

**Thank you for your reviews! And if you think Chris is in trouble… well…**

**Whodunnit?**

Monday came and went. Chris hadn't had the nerve to tell Shaz anything. He noticed that she was distracted and irritable with him and he wondered if Leanne had told her after all. She had barely raised a smile at Ray's hair which was shorter than normal now- Leanne had cut it Sunday night, after Chris had left. When Chris asked Shaz about it she just said she had come in just as they were finishing and she had already laughed herself silly.

Chris knew he should talk to Shaz, more so now. Hell, forget Shaz, he should tell the Guv. But he knew he wouldn't. He knew even telling DI Drake would mean the end. It was weird how he had been all set to confess and then had seen Leanne and suddenly he wanted to guard every secret he had. He wondered if there was a way of getting Shaz out of Leanne's flat, away from her.

XXX

It was a body. It was a young woman, a slit across her throat. She had been found by the river half an hour before Gene had received the call about it, a mile away from the Horse and Trap. She had been killed in the early hours of that morning. She had been a stripper in Madam Capstone's strip club.

Shaz knelt down to examine the body, keen to earn her stripes as a DC as Chris searched the surroundings for evidence. Gene turned away, a clench in his stomach. He thought the killings had stopped. It had been weeks since the last killing and now there had been another.

He wished Alex was with him. He couldn't make any sense of it and he knew he would be able to. She'd take one look at the crime scene and say, "oh it means this and that means our killer is this kind of person, oh look there he his, get him!"

But she wasn't there. Nor was Ray, having called in sick that morning, complaining of flu. Gene strongly suspected flu was code for hangover.

Chris hurried over. "Just been talking to forensics, Guv. They haven't really started yet but they want to do a sweep of the area now."

Gene nodded and called Shaz over. "Well, DC Granger?"

"Bruises on her hands and arms show there was a struggle. There are fibres or hair or something under her fingernails."

Gene raised his eyebrows. "Forensic evidence left behind? Well, that's new."

XXX

Two days after the body had been found, Alex heard a banging at the door and a voice crying, "Police! Open up!"

Alex hauled herself out of bed. Two things made her worry, the fact that it was one in the morning and the note of anguish in Gene's voice. What the hell had happened and why was he coming to her?

She opened the door and Gene flew in, charging across her living room as though he had no control over his feet.

"Gene, what is it?" Alex demanded, "What's wrong?"

Gene span around and the look on his face terrified her. His mouth was arranged in a straight line and his eyebrows were slanting down to his nose. But it was his eyes that frightened her, a wild look that reflected anger, disbelief, hatred and sorrow all at once.

"I've just come back from the interview rooms."

"At this time of night?" said Alex, trying not to rush him, "Who were you interviewing?"

"Ray."

"Ray who?"

Gene said nothing. Alex gaped at him as the penny dropped.

"Ray? _Our_ Ray? Ray Carling? Why?"

"He did it," said Gene so quietly that Alex barely heard him, "Ray killed the seven prostitutes some weeks ago. He killed the eighth one earlier this week."


	13. Tears

**The end of chapter 12 seems to have shocked a few people. Shall we continue?**

**Tears**

"That's not possible," Alex gasped.

Gene turned away from Alex to face the window. Alex knew that he was trying to hide his emotions from her and ordinarily she would have looked the other way and let him compose himself. But Ray was her friend too and she didn't care if Gene was upset. She ran up to Gene and wrenched him around to face her.

"It can't be," she whispered. Gene reached out and clutched her arms, pinning them to her sides.

"Do you think I would lie about something like this?"

"NO!" Alex shouted and Gene dropped his hands in shock at the volume of her exclamation.

"I know you would never lie to me," Alex said, quieter now, "But Ray would never kill anyone."

Gene looked away from Alex and she felt her stomach plunge.

"Oh my God."

"There was an… incident in Manchester…" Gene briefly described what had happened.

"That doesn't mean that this time it was him! Gene, there must be some mistake, something's wrong. It wasn't Ray!"

Gene looked at Alex sadly. He knew that what he would say next would upset her. It had upset him.

"His DNA was found at the scene. His hair was found all around the place and under the girl's fingernails."

A tear fell slowly down Alex's cheek. She made no attempt to brush it away.

"Alibi?"

"None," said Gene heavily, "Says he was drinking beer and watching telly. Can't remember what he was watching, obviously."

Alex stared at him in shock. "You think he did it, don't you?"

Gene looked at his feet. "If we found someone else's DNA at the scene of a murder, very similar to other murders and the owner had no alibi for any of the murders, what would you think?"

"I know Ray!"

"So do I! He's like my brother. I've known him longer than I've known almost anyone else in the force!"

"Then why do you think he did it?"

"Don't you see, Alex?" Gene cried, grasping her arms again and pushing his face close to hers, "It doesn't matter what I think. There is overwhelming evidence to pin the deaths on Ray and no jury in the land will hesitate in sending him down!"

Gene's voice broke on the last word and he rested his forehead against Alex's. She felt tears streaming down her face, but she couldn't be sure they were all hers.

She noticed that Gene hadn't denied believing that Ray was the killer.

"Tell me it wasn't him," Gene whispered into her hair as she moved her head so her cheek rested against his chest, trying to soothe herself with the beating of his heart, "Tell me there's a way for this to be a mistake, that Ray's DNA could have got to a crime scene he had never visited. Please Alex."

Alex said nothing.

Finally they broke apart and Gene muttered something about going home but Alex stopped him. Something about the thought of Gene all alone wherever he lived having to deal with one of his officers being a murderer sickened her. She also didn't think she'd be able to sit in her flat alone all night either.

As Alex put the kettle on, Gene started pacing by the window, like a lion in a cage.

"How are Shaz and Chris taking it?"

"About as badly as you'd expect. Chris refused to interview him, had to get some of the Fenchurch West twats to help. Shaz is a bit tougher but she keeps asking if Ray's alright. I don't know how she thinks he is!"

Gene aimed a viscous kick at Alex's coffee table, almost turning over. "Shit, sorry," he grunted as a shoebox went flying, emptying its contents on the floor. Alex looked round in horror as Gene crouched down to pick up the shoebox and replace its contents. She saw him freeze as something on the yellow cards caught his eye. She watched him mouth his own name and look up at her, accusation in his eyes.


	14. Fear

**Your reviews made me smile and laugh and just generally be happy so thank you, thank you!**

**Fear**

"What are these?" Gene whispered. Alex stared back at him, completely horrified. Why hadn't she put them away, under her bed or in her wardrobe when she had the chance?

"Alex."

Alex flinched as her name whipped out from Gene's lips, ricocheting around the hard walls of her flat like a bullet. Gene looked back at the letters.

"This is why you left, isn't it? To protect me."

Alex shut her eyes, trying to regain some composure. When she opened them again, Gene was sitting on her sofa, having arranged the letter in a line on the coffee table before him. Alex, hesitantly at first, walked over and sat down beside him. She switched some of the cards around.

"There. Now they're in order."

_Wouldn't it be horrible if something bad happened to Gene?_

_You have three days to leave the Force. If you fail, we will kill Gene Hunt. If you tell anyone about this letter, we will kill Gene Hunt._

_See how serious we are Alex? If you're reading this, we'll assume you didn't die. What a pity. That was one way to get you out of the Force after all._

_The fact remains that you are still employed by the Met and Hunt is still alive. So, we will give you an extension. Hand in your notice by next Monday or we will kill Gene Hunt. If you tell anyone about these notes, we will kill Gene Hunt. This time, we will not make mistakes._

_Stay away from Luigi's._

"You should have told me," Gene muttered, so quietly that Alex barely heard him.

"I couldn't. They would have killed you. They nearly did kill you."

"What are you talking about, woman?"

Alex explained, "This one here- the third one- I got whilst in hospital after being shot. When I regained consciousness, and before I read that note, I really thought someone was going to tell me you had been killed, that they had got to you some other way."

Gene remembered something. "The one you shot- the one who 'ad a gun to my head- he said something like 'she could have stopped this'."

Alex choked back a sob. "Oh God, Gene, he meant me! You could have died that day and it would have been all my fault!"

"So this is the real reason why you left," he said slowly. Alex met his eyes then looked away guilty, breathing "yes" as an admission.

"And this last one 'ere- this is why you stopped coming to Luigi's."

"No," said Alex, "I didn't get that until the day after Shaz's party."

"Which probably means that whoever this _bastard_ is that's been threatening you," growled Gene, causing Alex's heart to soar as she realised he was on her side, "he might have been at Luigi's and seen you there."

"But why?"

"There could be any number of reasons why they want you out of the force," Gene mused. "You're a damn fine officer, Bolls, when you're not a complete fruitcake. Some scum or the other might want you off a case. It doesn't explain why they don't want you at Luigi's though."

"Or," said Alex as an idea came to her, "They may just want me away from you."

She cast her mind back to that botched undercover job with Bryson. He had known what she meant when she said _Gene_, could he be behind this? He wasn't at Luigi's but it wasn't beyond the realms of possibility that he could have had spies there or a mutual friend of Shaz's.

Alex had once thought the letters would lead her into the future, all though she couldn't imagine why that would be. She vaguely knew that there were chronological discrepancies in her life- her parents had not only died recently, but when she was a child too, all though she couldn't imagine how that could be. The yellow slips of paper reminded her of a girl with yellow hair. She didn't know who this girl was. She doubted she had ever known.

"Who'd want that?" Gene frowned. "And why?"

Alex suddenly leapt up and ran over to her window. She threw it up and stuck her head out, craning her neck as she surveyed the street below.

"Bolly, what the hell are you doing?"

Alex span round in a panic. "What if they know you're here? What if they kill you, just for being here with me?"

Gene got up and walked over to the window and stood facing Alex. "I'm not afraid, Alex."

"I am," she whispered.

Gene reached out slowly and placed his hand on Alex's chest, just above where her gunshot scar was. He closed his eyes as he felt her heartbeat thrumming through his fingers. They both let their minds wander to their fears, Gene with a gun to his temple, Alex with blood gushing out of her chest and Ray. Ray: friend, colleague, DI, murderer, shivering in a police cell.


	15. Cool Glass

**Thank you for your reviews!**

**Another LOM reference and there was one back in chapter 13 too. Still shouldn't prove too much of a spoiler though…**

**Cool Glass**

Gene Hunt knew many things. He knew how to administer the perfect bruise-free groin slap. He knew how to identify beers from fifteen different Manchester pubs. He even knew how to get a woman from pub to his bed in five hours- all though how this hadn't worked on Drake yet, he'd never know.

One more thing he knew was worming its way from the back of his mind. Gene knew that it was possible for a man to appear overwhelmingly guilty of a murder he didn't commit.

But, he realised, as he poured himself another scotch, admiring the burnt brown colour in the dim light of his office, the evidence against him had been circumstantial. Here, Ray's DNA was found on the dead girl, with no other way of getting there.

He had hoped that Drake would shed some light on the matter, that he could take every fact to her and she'd arrange them, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, to show a beautiful picture in which Ray was innocent and some cowardly piece of scum would rot for a thousand years in the slimiest of Her Majesty's Prisons.

She hadn't and the candle he'd held for Alex had flickered, unfairly he'd admit, and had almost gone out when he'd seen the contents of the shoebox. She had lied to him and deceived him all though God knew what he would have done differently if the letters had come to _him_ threatening to end _her_ life. The longer he had spent at her flat, and the more they had talked, the more he came to understand her side and the dilemma she had faced.

He finished his drink and rested his forehead against the cool glass of the wall that separated his office from the rest of CID. He stared, as he always did on evenings like these, at Alex's old desk. Now and then he let his eyes flicker to Ray's and let a pang of sadness and betrayal wash over him, like icy water.

As he stared at Alex's empty desk, something in the forefront of his vision caught his eye. He took his head off the glass and looked away sighing. Damn Drake and her letters, they were making him hallucinate.

He looked back. It hadn't disappeared. Slowly, as though he was approaching an endangered bird, he opened his office door and crept over to Shaz's desk.

It was real. He picked it up with trembling hands and examined it. Frantically, he grasped for Shaz's phone and dialled the only number he had ever memorised before dashing of the station and into his Quattro.

XXX

The place was fantastic. White candles dripped hot wax onto wine bottles and discreet waiters offered each gentleman diner a menu and his lady companion a rose. Chris had expected Shaz to object and make some comment about how un-feminist it was to expect that the man would order for both but she simply blushed and fingered the rose petals as Chris made the order. She seemed nervous.

He couldn't really afford this, but Shaz had insisted and he knew it might be the last date he would ever have with her. She might never want to share a meal with him again.

XXX

Alex hurried down the stairs outside her flat and ran outside to be confronted with a beautiful red Audi Quattro. She threw open the passenger door and got in. Gene slammed his foot on the accelerator and they sped away.

"What is it?" asked Alex.

"You're sitting on it," Gene replied shortly.

Alex rummaged around on her seat, and Gene pretended not to watch. Finally, she brought out a piece of yellow card.

XXX

"There's something I want to tell you, Shaz," said Chris, nervously.

Shaz smiled back, but not widely. Shit, did she already know? And if she did, why was she here with him?

Chris opened his mouth to tell her everything, but the food arrived. As Shaz took her knife and fork and started cutting up her steak, Chris bottled it. He'd tell her after the meal.

XXX

Alex snapped her head from the yellow note to Gene. For one moment she thought that the mystery had been solved, that Gene had been the one that had delivered those notes to her. He knew where she lived, he could have left the note by her door after leaving Shaz's party and left another when she was in hospital. He knew her well enough to know what buttons to press, how to manipulate her for his own ends.

Then she came to her senses. Of course it wasn't Gene! Why would he threaten her with his own life? What possible reason could he have for wanting her out of the Force? Why would he deliver her a note in person like this? And, above all else, Gene wasn't like that. If Gene wanted a fight, it was out in the open. If he ever wanted to fight her- and back when she worked for him, it seemed like that was all they did- he would not go about it in this way.

"Where did you find this?"

"Shaz's desk," he barked.

"It was Shaz who sent me those notes?"

"That's what I thought," said Gene, as they careered round a corner. "But I think she's been receiving them, same as you. I don't think that's her first one either."

Alex turned back to the note. She turned it over to reveal the same black typed writing she had seen before. She began to read.

XXX

Chris paid the bill- Shaz offering to pay half and Chris only just managing to refuse- and they went for a walk along the riverbank at Shaz's insistence. A full moon shone, making Shaz's hair gleam. Chris wondered if he should say something romantic about it, but he decided against it. He needed to tell her something more important.

XXX

They left the Quattro by the restaurant that Shaz and Chris had just vacated. Gene stormed in, all guns blazing, only to come out ten minutes later bellowing, "They're not there, they're not bloody there!"

Alex scanned frantically along the riverbank outside. She couldn't see anyone. "You take the Quattro and go that way," she said to Gene, pointing to the right. "I'll go left."

As she ran, she searched desperately for them, praying it hadn't already happened. It seemed her prayers had been answered and she saw them in the distance. She grappled in her coat pocket for a radio before remembering she wasn't a DI anymore.

She stopped running and called out to them and they turned. Chris walked back to her but Shaz stayed still.

A van sped past Alex and pulled up beside Chris. Three men wearing balaclavas sprang out of the back and pounced on Chris. Alex started running again but she was too late. By the time she had reached Shaz, Chris was in the back of the van, headed for God knew where.

Shaz turned around and tried to run, but Alex was too fast for her.

"What have you done, Shaz?" she said, sadly.

"He'll be OK," said Shaz desperately, "I did it for you, Ma'am."

On the passenger seat in the Quattro lay a piece of yellow card with black typed words on it.

_Go to The Olive Tree tonight with Chris and take a walk along the riverbank. Do not stop us from kidnapping him. If you do not follow our instructions, if you tell anyone about these letters, we will kill your precious Ma'am. Don't think that this time you can stop it._

_Don't worry. We will not kill Chris._


	16. Purple

**Your reviews have been awesome, thank you so much for them. Here's chapter 16. **

**Purple**

When Alex and Shaz met up with Gene again outside The Olive Tree, he had driven them to Shaz's flat and ordered Shaz to show him the other letters. He had even followed her into her room as she got them to make sure she didn't hide any. He was relieved that she didn't appear to have destroyed a single one. Like Alex, she had hidden them in a shoebox.

Alex made to follow Gene and Shaz but something in another room caught her eye. Pushing the half-ajar door fully open, a girl's bedroom was revealed to her. Leanne's room. Alex stepped in and instantly started building a psychological profile of the owner- she couldn't help it. She breathed in- the scent was familiar, it reminded her of her father, and it was strongest near Leanne's bed. Deep purple walls complimented a pale lilac bedspread and all over the floor were discarded clothes mingling with books. Alex picked a few of them up: Poirot, Holmes, Marple, Grisham. Leanne loved crime novels- no wonder she had been so thrilled to meet Gene.

Alex replaced the books and looked around again for what had caught her eye. She found it on the dressing table opposite the door. Surrounded by bottles of hairspray, hairdressing scissors and curlers was a huge typewriter. And next to the typewriter was a pile of blank yellow cards, identical to the ones she and Shaz had received.

"Bolly."

Alex span around guilty to face a furious Guv. She pointed to the dressing table. Gene glanced towards the pile and nodded to show he understood what Alex was implying but the anger emanating from him didn't diminish. He brandished another stack of yellow paper towards Alex and she took it.

Alex read though them quickly and understood why Gene was so cross- the anger wasn't directed at her, it was for Shaz. Her blood began to boil. "It goes back as far as that?"

Gene didn't answer. When Alex looked up, Gene was standing to one side and Shaz was at the doorway, looking as though she was close to tears.

"We need to find Chris," she whispered.

"Oh, as if you care," snapped Alex. Shaz stepped forward and slapped Alex sharply round the face. Gene cried out, something about Shaz respecting her senior officer but Alex cut him off.

"Stop it, Gene. I'm sorry Shaz, I know you had no choice."

Shaz broke into tears and Alex took her in her arms, letting her cry for a few seconds before finally breaking away. She heard Gene tut in disbelief.

"Do you have any idea where they might have taken him?"

Shaz shook her head.

"Then I suggest we turn this flat upside down. Shaz, this is going to upset you, but Leanne is behind the letters that you've received. I got them too. It's possible that she's left some clue here as to where Chris is."

They searched the place all over. Alex was trying not to think about how illegal this was. Chris' disappearance hadn't been formally reported and they didn't have a search warrant for the flat- did it make a difference if Shaz was there too?

It was Shaz that found it. Alex recognised instantly what had happened. Leanne had been here and received a telephone call. The caller had told Leanne where Chris was being held and she had written it down on a small notepad on the telephone table (along with Chris' name- the big giveaway), ripped off the sheet and left, presumably for this location. Shaz had come along and lightly shaded with a pencil the sheet underneath, revealing the impression of what Leanne had written earlier.

"I've worked it out," said Alex quietly as she, Gene and Shaz got into the Quattro, Shaz in the back and Alex riding shotgun. "Shaz, I need you to answer some questions. Please be honest, Chris' life could depend on it, whatever the letter said."

Alex's interrogation lasted the whole journey. Alex faced forwards to take the pressure off Shaz but she snuck looks at Gene every so often. He kept his eyes on the road and his mouth firmly shut, despite the confessions Shaz was making. It was all becoming clear to Alex.

XXX

"Pull up here," said Alex when they were around the corner from the house.

Gene obeyed but not without asking, "Why?" It was the first time he had spoken since they had left Shaz's.

"I need to go in alone," said Alex. Shaz protested and Alex deferred.

"Alright, Shaz too. But not you, Gene."

Gene kept his eyes in front, even though they were no longer driving. Finally, he said, "DI Drake, a word."

"I'm not your DI," Alex muttered as they got out, leaving Shaz in the back. Alex walked round to Gene's side and froze as she saw the look on Gene's face. If she had ever seen him angry before, this was nothing compared to how he looked now, how small his mouth seemed, how sunken yet bright his eyes were, how uncharacteristically still his body was.

"Two things: first there is no way in hell I am letting you go into that house without me. You could be killed. Secondly, Shaz is not leaving my sight."

"I knew you'd say that," Alex sighed. "But it's the only way."

"How? Enlighten me, Bolls."

"If I'm right- and it's a big if- we have very little evidence and none that will stand up in court. We can't send them down based on an ex-coppers hunch. We have to get them to confess and they won't do that if you're there."

"You'd be surprised," said Gene drily.

"We have to make them believe they are the dominant people in the situation," said Alex, ignoring Gene's comment. "They have to think that there is no help for me or Shaz."

"There might not be for Shaz," Gene snapped, "She doesn't deserve anything from us, or were you riding in a different Quattro just now?"

Alex hoped they wouldn't have to address this yet, all though she knew Shaz was the cause of his rage. She felt just as betrayed as Gene.

"We can't keep her away from Chris," said Alex, "I know she's let us down-"

"Us down?" Gene snapped and Alex shut her eyes and turned away, "Us? How about the Force? You aren't her superior officer any more, Drake. You're not my DI. You left the force, left me…"

"I didn't have a choice," she whispered, cursing the tears that were leaking from beneath her eyelids. "Nor did Shaz for the same reasons. And as for not being your DI, that doesn't matter. Who do you turn to still when you need someone? When Ray was arrested, when Shaz got that note?"

"Yet you don't turn to me," Gene retorted. "I still don't know how Bryson figured you out."

"You still want to bring that up? Now? After all this time?"

Gene didn't reply.

"Do you want to know why that operation failed, Gene?" Alex asked, opening her eyes. "Do you want to know the last secret? How Bryson realised I was a copper?"

Gene said nothing, but his eyes widened.

"I said your name. I was lying in Bryson's bed, his hands were all over me and all I could think about was you."

Gene didn't move, didn't say a word, but his eyes left Alex's to stare, unfocused at a spot over her shoulder. Alex opened the Quattro's door to let Shaz out. She turned to Gene, who looked dazed. "Give us a five minute head start then follow. Chris is likely to be held in a room above the ground floor so be careful climbing stairs. Listen as closely as you can but stay out of sight until I give the codeword."

Gene finally found his voice. "What is the codeword?"

"Shoebox."


	17. Four Mistakes

**Thank you all so much for your reviews.**

**This isn't the last chapter, but it's the one that wraps up most of the plot threads, particularly where the crime is concerned. I've left clues throughout the story, so I'm a little nervous about this chapter. I'd love to know if it worked in your opinion, if there were any developments you saw coming, anything you didn't and if there was anything that wasn't explained clearly. Please let me know, even if you haven't reviewed before. Thanks!**

**Four Mistakes**

Alex crept round the back of the house that held Chris, Shaz following close behind. Alex scanned the ground, picked up a broken brick and hurled it through the window. Gently, so as not to cut her hand on the glass, she reached in with her hand and unfastened the window from the inside. It swung open.

The two women climbed in, finding themselves in a dark kitchen. Alex knew that whoever was in the house would have heard the window break so they moved quickly, out of the kitchen and up the stairs. But then, the point was to be found.

A door opened and in the doorway stood Leanne. Alex hadn't believed it was possible for a leather-skirted Barbie doll to look menacing, but as she took in Leanne's smirking face and her defiant gait, she found herself standing corrected.

"Gotcha," Leanne whispered, "Drake, I should have you killed for this. I did warn you Shaz."

"Where's Chris?" said Shaz angrily.

"In here," said Leanne, indicating the room behind her with her head. A pitiful moaning sound could be heard. Alex felt her hair stand on end.

"Let him go," Shaz demanded and Leanne burst out laughing. In Alex's opinion, it was more evil witch than Disney princess.

"Leanne," Alex said calmly, "Please think about what you're doing. Please don't go too far."

Leanne stopped laughing. Her face clouded over, her pretty features warped into pure evil. There was a flash of metal by her waist and suddenly a gun pointed straight at Alex.

"Get inside," she ordered, "Both of you."

Shaz hurried in, Alex close behind. Her stomach convulsed as she took in Chris' form. He was bound at the wrists and ankles and a gag was wrapped tightly around his mouth and a trickle of blood ran from his forehead down his cheek to the floor. He looked up at them with pitiful, bloodshot eyes.

Next to him, sitting on a wooden chair, was George Capstone, surrounded by the men that had kidnapped Chris hours earlier.

Shaz glanced warily at Leanne before hurrying over to Chris and sitting next to him. She took his head in her lap and stroked his hair, her tears mixing with his blood. Leanne shouted at her not to release him and she didn't dare to disobey. This was supposed to be her best friend. Shaz felt sick.

Alex meanwhile was looking at Capstone.

"So which was it," she asked, "Falcon or Trap?"

Capstone didn't answer but he looked at Leanne, as though asking permission.

"Come on," said Alex, keeping her voice carefully casual, "Indulge me. You've won after all. I'll take the secret to my grave." Leanne grinned widely.

"Horse and Trap," he said.

"You lied in the interview," said Alex and Capstone nodded, "Why?"

"It was Leanne's idea. She thought they'd suspect me if I said I was at the Trap, it was too close to the river. So I lied and got Jimmy to give me an alibi."

"How did you know we suspected you were somewhere else?"

"Shaz," said Leanne, spitting the name out. "God, it was beyond useful living with her during this. She told me some barmaid had seen George at the Trap. She said that made him a suspect."

Leanne smirked at Shaz. "She didn't _know_ she was betraying you though. She trusted me, thought she was just being my friend, confiding in me about her day."

"She must have told you so much, things she didn't even know were useful to you," said Alex, "Not just about the case, but details of her job, relationships between members of CID-"

Leanne sniggered. "If you're talking about you and Hunt-"

"Do you remember one of the first things you said to DCI Hunt, Leanne?" Alex cut in. "You asked if all murderers make three mistakes, which get them caught. I've seen your room, Leanne. You read a lot of detective novels, don't you?"

"I love them," she said, and Alex noticed a layer of caution come into Leanne's speech. This was bad. She didn't want Leanne to be second guessing her.

"That lie, in the interview-"

"Was the first mistake," said Leanne, and the caution was gone. Had Alex imagined it? "I knew there was a transcript. Shaz always moaned about how many she had to type up and how boring it was. I knew George's one had already been done, I just had to get Shaz to change it and lose the tape."

"You sent her a letter," Alex whispered, "Typed on yellow card and anonymous. And this, Leanne, is where you showed how clever you were. The obvious thing would be to threaten her with Chris, either his death or his mistreatment in some way. But you didn't. It had to be either me or Gene, since we were the ones in the interview room, or Ray, who had gone to the wrong pub and had probably seen a transcript. We were the ones with the memories."

"I nearly picked you," said Leanne, warming to her story, "The beautiful DI Drake, the wise and clever Ma'am. Oh, Shaz looks up to you so much… she'd do anything for you, Alex…"

"And I was at the interview, same as Gene," said Alex. "Shaz looks up to the Guv just as much, if not more than me and you believe in win-win situations, don't you Leanne? If Shaz obeyed you, George would be off the hook. If she didn't you'd have the right, in your view, to off one of us and you'd get to the script some other way- or would you just mow down the whole of CID until no-one could remember?"

"Whatever it took," said Leanne nastily, "But I didn't pick either of you."

"No," said Alex, "You were intelligent. You chose Ray."

"It was your fault," Leanne hissed. "You told him to go to the Falcon, to search for information. And Shaz said they had been talking in the kitchen of CID, that Ray thought it had been the Falcon in the interview."

_Wouldn't it be bad if something were to happen to Ray? Change the name of the pub in Capstone's interview transcript to the Horse and Trap. If you don't, we will kill Ray Carling. If you tell anyone about this note, we will kill Ray Carling._

"Be honest, Leanne. Were you intelligent enough?"

"No," said Leanne, her face falling slightly. "Even though the official records said what I wanted them to say, you and Ray remembered differently."

"Shaz told you about me fighting with DCI Hunt. Ray told her he was sure it was the Horse and Falcon and she told you all of this."

"First, I needed to get rid of you," said Leanne and Alex felt her blood chill. "You or Hunt, it didn't matter."

"So you sent me those notes to get me out of the Met. If I didn't you were going to kill Gene. You nearly did. Another win-win situation."

"George helped me," said Leanne, smiling sickeningly at him. "He knew some guys who could stage a robbery. And it wasn't quite win-win. There would still be one of you left in CID."

"Wouldn't that have been a problem?"

"No," said Leanne, "The others would have forgotten or be unable to second-guess themselves. Except that it didn't work."

"What did you do to Ray?" asked Alex.

Leanne's eyes narrowed. "Did Shaz lie to you?"

Slowly Alex shook her head. "I was hoping she had."

"Corruption on a bigger scale, isn't it Alex?" she said with a sick sort of glee. "Losing a tape and incorrectly taking a statement is one thing, what she did to Ray… I didn't know the bitch had it in her."

Shaz flinched, but she didn't move from her position on the floor or stop stroking Chris' hair all though her hands were shaking.

_Changed our minds. Carling will die after all. Sorry to go back on our word- but what can you do about it? Confess to changing the transcript and you'll rot in prison and you can't change it back now. Just let it go_.

"How nice of you to warn her, even if that was your second mistake," said Alex sarcastically, "What made you change your mind?"

"It was at the party," said Leanne. "Ray was talking to you about being convinced it was the Trap. He said something about seeing a transcript before Shaz changed it, he still remembered, he was still dwelling on it. I thought you were the biggest threat. Shaz told me you were the one fighting with Gene over the name of the pub. But if Ray thought that he had seen another version of the interview, well as long as he was still around, he was dangerous. He nearly put two and two together that night. He came home with me and I listened as he and Shaz talked about it. He really thought he had seen the original transcript."

"The win-win situation was crumbling around you."

"But Shaz helped me out," Leanne smirked. "More than she knew at the time. Ray getting his hair cut by me in our kitchen- Shaz offered to clear up so she that's how she got the hairs- then she scattered them around the crime scene and under the dead girl's fingernails…"

"And so you're off the hook," said Alex bitterly. "All that worrying, all those threats and someone else is sent down for your crimes!"

"It seemed so. I wish I'd thought of it myself. And I didn't even need Chris' betrayal," Leanne said, her eyes moving from Alex's to connect with Shaz's who froze. Alex felt her hatred for Leanne rise, which was surprising as she didn't think it was possible. Why bring it up now?

"What did Chris know?" asked Alex.

"At the time, nothing."

"What time?" said Shaz, speaking for the first time then clamming up fearfully.

"Your birthday party, Shaz," said Leanne, a note of laughter underlying her speech, as though this was the part she loved, the bit where the beautiful but bitchy princess gets off with her best friend's boyfriend. "Chris and I snogged in the Ladies."

Shaz looked at Chris, clenching her jaw as though to hold back a fresh wave of tears. Chris pleaded with her, but couldn't make himself understood through his gag. Alex knew what he was trying to say, that he was drunk, that she came on to him.

"It wasn't anything personal," Leanne sneered, unable to contain her laughter. "I was just collecting stuff to use. I didn't know if threats would work on Shaz any more, she knew that I wouldn't keep my promises and I didn't like not having power over her, what if I needed her to do something for me again? Then I thought that maybe I could lure her in with information."

"Did you ever need to?" whispered Alex, her mouth dry.

"Yes but it probably wouldn't have worked anyway. Anyway, that kiss turned out to be more useful than I could have ever dreamed."

_Don't blow it now, Alex_. This was the bit of the story she was most unsure about. Everything up until this point she was able to use her own memories and Shaz's confessions to piece together the story. Now, only Leanne and Chris could fill in the blanks.

"What? How?"

"Chris came to my flat the day after the party. Shaz was out and he let himself in. He made his way to her room but stopped outside mine."

"Why?"

"He heard talking outside mine and pushed the door open, thinking maybe Shaz was in there. She wasn't, George was."

_And suddenly Chris had doubted everything that had happened so far. Of course Ray wasn't a murderer, of course Leanne was a nasty piece of work- she was sleeping with one of the suspects whilst living with an officer investigating the case._

"And so your third mistake, sleeping with Capstone in your own bed, where anyone could have caught you. Did you send Chris letters too?"

"No," said Leanne, "I just threatened him there and then, said I would tell Shaz about the kiss. He said he was about to tell her anyway, so I told him I'd lie. Say that as well as the kiss, we'd slept together, that he had come back for more, not George."

"He could easily have denied both," said Alex.

"I suppose. Admitting to the kiss but not the shag would have looked weird, from Shaz's point of view, surely there would have been more? And I'm her best friend, of course she would have believed me if I said both had happened. Incidentally, you found us at Luigi's, didn't you Alex? If Shaz had asked you if you had seen anything, could you have lied to her?"

"Wait a minute," said Shaz's shocked voice, "You knew?"

"Well Alex?" Leanne asked, "Can you lie to her?"

Alex looked at the floor rather than look at either of the two women. "Why did you kidnap Chris?"

"He was going to tell someone. The threat wasn't enough, we had more to lose than he did. Either Shaz or Hunt, and I knew that it wouldn't matter if I went ahead with my threats in the aftermath. If they knew about this little conflict of interest and hauled me in for questioning…" she trailed off thoughtfully.

"Yet you used threats again."

"Yes. I thought that just 'information to her advantage' wouldn't be enough to persuade her to betray her boyfriend. I still wondered if she'd do it, if she still trusted me. She did though." Leanne shot a poisonous look at Shaz. "I used you, Alex. I saw you at the party, I didn't want you to have too much contact with your former colleagues, you were still discussing the case. Your existence was still a threat. If I had to kill you, then so be it."

"Why me? Why not DCI Hunt?"

"I thought about it. He seemed to have forgotten what was really said in George's interview," Leanne sneered. "If Shaz did nothing and I ended up having to kill him, what would be the point? You were much more dangerous."

There was silence as Alex planned her next move. To her surprise, it was Leanne who broke it.

"How did you know about George and me?"

"I didn't," said Alex, "Not for sure. It's just that your bed stinks of Old Spice and I remember him wearing it in his interview."

"How do you know what my bed smells like?" asked Leanne suspiciously, her eyes narrowing. Alex ignored her.

"Did you kill those women?" Alex asked.

"No," said Leanne and Alex laughed now, a hollow laugh with no humour in it.

"Do you expect me to believe that?"

"I was there, of course I was," said Leanne, "Those whores all worked at the same joint and George's wife was the boss. She's a cold hag of a woman, doesn't really care if George looks elsewhere for what she can't give him. He only stays married to her for her money." George shifted uncomfortably but didn't tell Leanne to stop.

"So you're his whore?" said Alex, earning herself a slap round the face, which Alex compared unfavourably to Shaz's.

"No," Leanne snarled, no laughter in her voice anymore, "I'm his lover, his _only _lover."

"What were those girls?"

"Dalliances. His wife owns a brothel so I guess prostitutes are part of the perks of marriage to her. He doesn't have to sign in the account book because he doesn't pay them- they shag him or lose their jobs."

"Did you mind him sleeping with these girls?"

"I hated it," said Leanne, and Alex saw in her eyes the depth of her hatred, the mad jealousy that had driven her to conspire murder, the insecurity she felt in her relationship.

"We would meet each girl in a pub- usually the Trap all though not always. We would get the girl drunk and lead her to the river. I would watch as George would kill each one, to prove that they meant nothing to him, that he would only ever sleep with me. We had caught up on the backlog within a few days. Then he strayed again. I made him kill the last one."

The psychologist in Alex was finding this fascinating, but she held herself back. Instead she turned to George and said, "Is this true?"

George nodded. "Yes, it's true."

"How did you find us here?" said Leanne suddenly, as though the thought had just occurred to her.

"You wrote this address down. Shaz took an impression from the paper underneath. Your fourth mistake Leanne."

Leanne shrugged. "You talk about these mistakes as though it matters. But it doesn't, not anymore, not for you. I meant what I said in those letters." She took out her gun and pointed it in between Alex's eyes. "Shaz told you about the letters. All three of you know what happened. You all have to die."

"Shoebox," said Alex.

The look of confusion on George and Leanne's faces turned to horror as uniformed policemen burst through the door, cuffing George. Alex used Leanne's hesitation to run forward and knock the gun out of her hand. As Leanne tried to run past her and escape, Alex managed to barge into her and pin her up against the wall.

"What's this, police brutality?" Leanne hissed.

"I don't work for the police anymore, thanks to you," Alex snarled, her hands itching to sock Leanne on the nose. "You deserve to rot in a cell somewhere for what you did to those girls and what you did to Shaz, to Ray, to Chris, Gene and me."

"You all deserved it," Leanne spat and Alex really did hit her then, hard across the face. It felt brilliant.

Leanne was cuffed. Alex hurried over to Shaz and together they untied Chris. Finally, Gene stepped through the door, just as uniform were leaving the room.

Shaz stood up to meet him and tremblingly held out her hands in front of her. Gene looked at her sadly, snapped handcuffs around her wrists and led her away.


	18. Alex's Idea

**Thank you for reviewing! So, poor Shaz, eh?**

**Alex's Idea**

Chris lay on his bed, his arms wrapped around his middle. The tears had stopped coming now, instead he was lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

The doctor had examined him and said he wasn't very hurt physically, just a few bruises and superficial cuts. DI Drake had examined him and ordered him to take a few weeks leave, claiming that he was psychologically scarred, not just from the trauma of being kidnapped, but from the knowledge of what Shaz had done to both him and Ray. Chris had expected DCI Hunt to protest but he hadn't. The Guv had accepted Chris' sick leave.

Ray was back at CID part time and spent the rest of his time with Chris. Ray was thinner and looked like he had been in a few fights in prison. His temper was shorter to the point where he would talk back to the Guv before he remembered himself. Drake was counselling him, trying to help him see Shaz's point of view, her dilemma.

Chris thought Ray would be banging around his house like he always had been, declaring that Chris was a poof, especially when he was crying. Instead, Ray lounged in an armchair by the foot of Chris' bed, deep in thought.

XXX

The newly-reinstated DI Alex Drake was sitting at her desk, her head resting on her left hand as she stared at Shaz's desk, still messy from a few days ago when she worked there. In her peripheral, Alex saw Gene open his office door.

"Bolly, do I pay you to-"

"They're done, Guv," Alex sighed, tapping the pile of paperwork she had recently finished.

Gene paused in the doorway, as though he was about to say something else. They hadn't yet discussed Alex's revelation, how she had said his name when she was 'with' Bryson.

Just as Gene decided he was too cowardly to broach the subject and turned to go back into his office, Alex said, "Guv."

Gene held the door open for her as she rose and entered his office. He stood next to her.

"I know- I think I know- how to get Shaz out of this… situation."

"Why do we want to?"

He saw Alex flinch, but she held her ground. "She saved my life. She saved Ray's, though it didn't look like it. She helped us find Chris."

Gene studied her carefully. There was an expression in her eyes, not fear exactly, more apprehension. "Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this idea?"

"We need Ray and Chris' co-operation on this. At Shaz's trial, we give evidence suggesting that Ray and Chris knew about the letters and knew what Shaz was going to do. We'll forge documents and memos that say having Ray locked up was part of a plan, a new, high-risk operation to make the culprits think they were safe and make mistakes so we could catch them. Chris getting kidnapped would also be part of the plan so that he would be able to lead us straight to the killers. We should emphasise that the plan worked. And you arresting her, that was all part of the façade too."

Gene said sharply, "Do you know what you've just suggested, Drake?"

Alex looked away from him, and at her feet in shame. She whispered a dirty, ugly word.

"Corruption."

Alex expected Gene to shout at her or worse, speak in that quiet voice he only used when he was disappointed in her. She expected him to order him from his sight, to surrender her warrant card and never see him again. She kept staring at the floor.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and looked up. Gene was standing with his back to her, looking through the blinds out of the window at the car park. Cautiously, she approached and stood next to him.

"I thought I knew it all, Bolls," he said, broodingly, still staring out of the window, "This is my kingdom, my world. I know the ins and outs of this station better than a prozzie in a brothel. I know that if I told Ray to whack a nonce, we end up with an internal inquiry. If I want someone to cock up an interview, Wonder Chris is there. If I tell Shaz to make me a cuppa, she'll moan about it for weeks on end, conspire with you about some feminist crap, and still have a brew with eleven sugars too few on my desk."

There was a pause. "And as for you, Bolly-"

"Do you trust me to disagree with you?" asked Alex rhetorically, leaning against the window, "to annoy the hell out of you with my psychology bollocks?"

Gene turned his head and caught her eyes with his. There was a small smile on his face.

"I trust you to see the best in everyone here. That Ray is capable of making decisions and taking responsibility if only I let him. That Chris is the hardest-working police officer in the country and we'd take twice as long without him. I look at Shaz and see just a plonk. You look at her and you see the future of the Met, a smart girl with her whole career before her."

Alex didn't dare look away. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she could feel her palms sweating.

"If you can get the others onside," Gene began slowly, the smile gone from his face now, "Then this will be the last lie told at Fenchurch East, the final secret."

They both knew this wasn't quite true. There was still one more secret, an elephant that neither Gene nor Alex could acknowledge- not yet.

"No more hidden blackmail, no more secret corruptions. We do this, save our own, then pretend it never 'appened."

Alex nodded. "Yes Guv."

But one day, they would acknowledge it.


	19. Clean

**This meeting probably wouldn't be allowed to take place by law but oh well, artistic licence, and Chris needs this chapter. Have fun, and thank you for your reviews!**

**Clean**

Ray and Chris showed their warrant cards to the female guard, who led them down a flight of stairs into a stone-walled room. A cheap metal table stood in the middle of the room surrounded by three plastic chairs, two on one side and one on the other.

Ray and Chris took their seats. Presently a woman with short dark hair entered the room and sat gingerly in the chair opposite them. She kept her eyes on the table and nervously played with her hands.

"Hello Shaz," said Ray. Chris said nothing. He didn't even look at her.

"Drake says your trial has been fixed for next week."

Shaz looked up then, all though she didn't look at Ray. She nodded then dropped her head again.

There was silence then, punctured only by Ray exhaling cigarette smoke. Then-

"Why'd you do it Shaz?" Chris asked.

"Don't know," she whispered and Chris stood up suddenly and walked away from her. The sudden loudness of the chair scraping made Shaz jump and she watched him apprehensively as he turned back.

"Don't give me that," Chris snarled. It was all coming out now, all the rage he had suppressed for the past week beneath six feet of misery and depression. "Why did you let Leanne own you? Why did you put Ray in jail and let them kidnap me? Why did you change that evidence?"

"I didn't know it was Leanne. I didn't know she was like that."

"Bollocks," said Chris, running a hand through his hair. He was vaguely aware of Ray's eyes flicking between him and Shaz as though he was watching a tennis game.

"I thought I was helping you, I swear. They were going to kill Ray, I thought if he got put away, he'd be safe there, they wouldn't be able to get to him. They said they'd kill the Ma'am if I didn't send them you. They said they wouldn't kill you, that you'd be safe."

"You should have told someone," said Chris, his voice shaking, "The Guv or Ma'am or someone. Even me."

"Drake didn't," said Ray suddenly, "She was getting letters too, that's why she left. She didn't tell anyone either, they said they'd kill the Guv. She ended up taking a bullet for him."

Ray dropped the cigarette end on the floor and ground it under his heel. "You caught Leanne with that man, didn't you Chris? Yet you didn't say anything either. If you had, you wouldn't have been abducted, I would have been out of jail a few days earlier."

Chris was silent. Shaz gave Ray a small smile and Ray frowned back.

"I'm not on your side yet, Shaz. Far as I'm concerned, you've all done something wrong. You obviously, Chris hid evidence when he caught Leanne and Capstone, Drake hiding her letters then quitting the Met and even the Guv for all the crap he gave Drake about being a bad officer."

"And I suppose you're so perfect, Ray," said Shaz, before she could help herself.

"I am actually," he said and smiled at Shaz, much to her surprise, "This is the one time that I am completely clean."

Chris stood behind his chair. "Ray, mate, give us a minute will ya?"

Ray gave Shaz a quick, small smile then left. Chris grasped the back of his chair so tightly, his knuckles turned white.

"DI Drake caught me with Leanne at your birthday. She could have told you but she didn't. She left it to me. I should have told you but I was too much of a coward."

"So what, we both fucked each other over?" Shaz said sarcastically. She didn't care any more. Chris hated her, Ray should hate her, the Ma'am was disappointed in her and the Guv had arrested her. If she was to stay in prison then so be it. "What I did to you was so much worse."

"Yeah, yeah it was," said Chris, gritting his teeth, "And what about what you did to Ray, eh?" He pointed at the door that Ray had just left through.

"I tried to save his life. Leanne was going to have him killed!"

"What were you going to do next though? Were you just going to leave him there in prison?" Chris shouted. Shaz was crying openly and Chris turned away from her to shout at the wall behind him. "And what about me? Were you just going to leave me there?"

"No," said Shaz, "I was going to go to the Guv, to Drake. Say what had happened and try and find you. Find out who had sent those letters."

"Do you really think they'd have killed Ray or Drake?"

"I didn't know. I couldn't take that risk. But I know now that they would have done."

"When the Ma'am got shot," Chris realised, turning back. "They were going for the Guv. Because of the letters."

There was silence as Chris turned everything over in his mind. He hadn't realised at the time that Drake's shooting had been part of a bigger picture. It had seemed sinister enough at the time but now that he could factor in her letters…

"Chris," Shaz said cautiously, "I understand if you hate me. I understand if you think I'm a bent copper and a bad person and that I should be locked up. But I was trying to do the right thing. It wasn't, I can see that now. But at the time, I was so scared."

A tear leaked out of Chris' eye. It ran down Chris' cheek and by the time it had reached its chin, he had made up his mind.

"DI Drake has an idea of how to get you out of here."

"Do you want me out of here?"

Chris looked up and stared deep into Shaz's eyes. Even after everything they had been through, everything they had done to each other, he still felt butterflies in his stomach in her presence.

"Yeah, I do. I want to help you."


	20. So Help Me God

**This is the last chapter. Thank you very much to everyone that has reviewed and favourited this story. It was wonderful to upload chapters and get back so many comments. Thank you all again!**

**So Help Me God**

"You shouldn't have gone, you know," said Alex, swilling the wine around her glass.

"Oh, give them a break Bolls," said Gene, downing his entire glass of wine and then refilling it. "Ray and Chris don't have to verbally give evidence and most of what we've got is on paper anyway. Those overpaid dishonest wigs can just read it out and prove their fancy education wasn't a complete waste of time."

"Shaz doesn't deserve prison," said Ray definitely. "Right Chris?"

Chris took a sip of his beer. "Shaz broke the law, technically like. But she don't belong in there. She felt oppressed by an invisible force and found herself bowing to its every whim and fancy. In many ways it's a metaphor for the oppression we all feel in our everyday lives by society and what society expects of us. We are bound by the ropes of race, religion, occupation and social status. It won't be until those ropes fray, or we learn to untie them for ourselves and for others, that we will truly be free and experience happiness."

"Christ, the sooner Shaz gets back, the sooner she can put a stop to your overdosing on philosophical horseshit," said Gene, signalling to Luigi for another bottle of his house rubbish.

XXX

"Detective Inspector Alexandra Drake…"

Alex tried not panic to visibly as she confirmed that that was her, that she lived at that address, and that she swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth…

"So help me God," she whispered and the Bible was put away.

Exhibit A was a confidential internal memo, only for the eyes of DCI Hunt, DI Drake, DS Carling and WPC Granger, concerning the first anonymous letter and the threat to the life of DS Carling.

"Were you not concerned that your knowledge of the letters Granger was receiving was jeopardising the life of your sergeant?" asked the lawyer.

"Yes," said Alex, as calmly as she could, "hence why all memos were strictly confidential."

"Why did you choose to obey the letters?"

"Because we were concerned about the life of our sergeant," said Alex, trying to suppress the smile she could feel forming on her lips.

"Despite it being corruption, DI Drake?"

"We did not intend to mislead in the long term. We suspected- correctly it turned out- that the letters had some from someone responsible for the deaths of the sex workers. Whether it was from the murderer or an accessory, we weren't sure of at that time. We changed the transcript to protect DS- now DI- Carling and to buy us time with the case."

"Yet you lost your job over the change in the transcript?"

"That was how it appeared to the outside world," said Alex, frowning. Where was he going with this?

"To the outside world, DI Drake?" sneered the lawyer, looking knowingly at the judge, "and to those in the know, it was due to other letters. This time threatening to kill DCI Hunt?"

"Yes," said Alex because what else could she say?

"Did DCI Hunt know about the letters you received?"

"Yes," said Alex, her stomach twisting painfully.

"Yet you were reluctant to leave, weren't you, DI Drake? Rather than quitting straight away, you risked the life of your DCI by staying for a week. In fact, he nearly got shot by criminals working for the letter senders."

_Shit._

"You gave in so quickly with Granger's first letter. Why not yours?"

"Part of the plan," said Alex with far more confidence than she had any right to be in possession of.

"In what way?"

"In obeying the first letter," said Alex slowly, her brain whirring all the while, "we didn't progress very far. We didn't have a way of tracing the letter. With this one, we tried to drag it out, see if the sender would get worried and see how he'd act."

"You didn't think to do this the first time?"

"DCI Hunt wouldn't allow it," said Alex, calmer now. This could have actually happened. "It was too much of a risk for Carling."

The lawyer seemed to accept this. "So what did you find out?"

"I don't follow."

"Did you manage to trace the letters? You arrested those that shot you, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Didn't they say who they were working for?"

"No."

"Did you even interview them?"

Alex stood in terrified silence. _Think, Alex, think!_ No they hadn't bloody interviewed them. If they had, then everything would have been sorted months ago. Ray would never have gone to prison, Chris would never have been kidnapped or cheated on Shaz… she should have told Gene. Every lie they were telling should have been a truth.

"Yes," she said, her toes curling into the floor. No they hadn't and she had just committed perjury and it could be easily proven. Easily, easily, easily.

"The transcript isn't here."

I bloody know! "You didn't ask for it," she said innocently.

Shaz's lawyer made an objection. There was no need for this, the investigations into another crime (namely the jewellery robbery) had no bearing on this case. The prosecution, rather predictably disagreed, but the judge was on Shaz's side. Alex glanced at the jury for as long as she dared. Did they notice? Had anybody worked out that she had broken an oath made on the Bible, that she had lied in court?

XXX

"For God's sake, Bolly, look a little more cheerful. You look like someone just told you champagne causes hair straightening."

Alex took the glass of wine from Gene and looked thoughtfully across the bar. Chris and Ray were loitering by the door, a pint each. Chris caught her eye.

"I thought-" she began, "The judge… the jury… how did they come to that decision?"

She ran a finger around the rim on her wine glass without being fully aware of what she was doing. "I cocked it up, Gene. I know I did. How can they ignore that? How come I haven't been arrested myself?"

Gene took a swig of wine from the bottle. Alex turned to look at him. There was a guilty silence.

"It was you!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide in shock. "I can't believe… are you mad, Gene?"

"Keep your voice down, Drake!" Gene hissed, "And you've got some bloody cheek being all judgemental. Corruption was your bloody idea. I just went along with it."

"You bribed them!" Alex whispered through gritted teeth, "Or threatened them. Which was it?"

"Bribery. Not my first instinct but it worked." Alex continued to shoot daggers at him and he rolled his eyes. "Look over there," he said indicating the doorway. "Look at her, how happy she is and tell me I didn't do the right thing. That _we_ didn't do the right thing."

Alex turned around to look and, sure enough, Shaz had just entered, a free woman.

"Signorina Granger!" Luigi beamed as he took Shaz's face in his hands and kissed her profusely on each cheek many times. "How lovely to have you back here! I give you a bottle of white wine, on the house eh?"

Shaz beamed and turned to face her colleagues. To her relief they smiled back and took it in turns to hug her- Ray even whispered in her ear, "Thank you for saving my life."

Then Chris stepped forward. Shaz watched his face nervously- would they ever get back to how they were? But he threw his arms around her and held her tightly.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, "I'm sorry for everything."

"I know," Chris said back, "And I was so angry with you at first Shaz."

"Aren't you still?" she asked as they broke apart.

"A little bit yeah," said Chris seriously and Shaz felt her hear break a little. It must have shown because Chris stroked her cheek gently.

Maybe they would get back to how they were, in time.

XXX

Alex sat on the sofa in her flat and removed her boots, wriggling her toes in relief. Gene watched her toes and suddenly felt a strange urge to… never mind. He subconsciously poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue and tried to concentrate on what Alex was saying.

"Thank you," she said, "for what you did. For Shaz."

"I should be thanking you," he said, "Was your idea after all, Bolls."

"But I needed you," she replied and Gene had to look away. The intensity of her gaze had made him catch his breath. But she was still talking.

"And for what you said before. About me seeing the best in people." Gene looked back as she giggled softly, a wicked glint in her eye. "I had no idea you were so perceptive."

"What do you see when you look at me, Bolly?" Gene whispered and the smile fell from her face, the glint in her eye softened.

"I think-" she began cautiously, "I think I see everything. You are rude, sexist and a thug. You drink too much, smoke too much and you are frequently violent against people who violate your moral code."

Alex stood up. Was it him or was she coming closer to him?

"But you make me feel safe. You protect us, all of us. You care when we get into trouble, even if it's a result of our own actions. If Fenchurch East is your kingdom, then you are a noble king."

Suddenly, he felt her hand on his chest and her breath on his face. He ran a finger along her jaw and across her lips.

"Juxtapositions," she breathed against his fingertips, "I know you are capable of cruelty. I know you are capable of kindness."

Involuntarily, she moved her head and he moved his. Their lips were millimetres apart.

"_Gene,"_ she whispered.

"_Alex_," he whispered back. He closed his eyes as their mouths met and their lips juxtaposed. He moved his hands down her back and could feel his hair tangling around her fingers.

All he could think about was her.


End file.
